


NEO VISION WRITINGS

by lyricalwritings



Category: NCT, NCT (Band), NCT 127 - Fandom, NCT Dream, NCT U - Fandom, WAYV, WayV (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:02:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24318511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyricalwritings/pseuds/lyricalwritings
Summary: "To the world, this is NCT!""大家好，我们是威神V!" (Hello everyone, we are WayV!)------Welcome to a collection filled with NCT and WayV stories – featuring you.Expect angst, romance, fluff, slice of life and everything in between------Thoughts in italicsFlashbacks in bold
Relationships: NCT 127 Ensemble & Reader, NCT 127 Ensemble/Reader, NCT Dream Ensemble & Reader, NCT Dream Ensemble/Reader, NCT Ensemble & Reader, NCT Ensemble/Reader, WayV Ensemble & Reader, WayV Ensemble/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. Introduction

Hello! :)

I am back again with another short story series - this time featuring the lovely NCT and WayV boys. They have really stolen my heart with their amazing stages, dedication and infectious energy. I've also been constantly inspired by the little happenings around me everyday so I've decided to start this little collection of NCT and WayV stories. 

Comments, feedback, kudos and subscriptions are much loved and appreciated! ^^

All plots are purely mine. Please do not plagiarize. Any similarities are purely coincidental. 

Stories are not to be translated, modified or posted on any other site. 

I aim to be as gender-neutral as I can in my stories, but do pardon me if I failed to meet this benchmark.

Content warnings will differ for each story, so please proceed only if you're comfortable with the themes being written. 

Status: **Ongoing**

I hope you enjoy these little stories as much as I enjoy writing them! Let's get started ^^


	2. Lucas - Strawberries and Cigarettes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: NCT / WayV / SuperM Lucas x You  
> Genre: fluff, romance  
> Word count: 2k  
> Description: racer!au  
> Warnings: mentions of vices, mild swearing

"You know, you really shouldn't be doing that."  
You turn your head slightly to the side, cocking an eyebrow at the person questioning you. At your eye level, all you could see was the intricately carved design of the silver buckle on his belt, the moonlight glinting off the shiny surface in little silvers of light. You have to tilt your head upwards to properly meet his eyes – curse this guy for being so tall. You shoot Lucas a glare from your position, before taking another drag from the cigarette lightly positioned between your fingers.  
Aiming a puff at him just to piss him off, you said,  
"Why does it matter to you what I do Lucas?"  
You shoot him a pointed glare; you gaze daring him to challenge you one more time. Never one to back down after being provoked, Lucas snaps a retort back immediately back as he waves the smoke away from his face, faking a gag at the same time.  
"Yuck this stuff smells gross. You shouldn't do it because your car is going to stink later, and I wouldn't want my favourite racer to pass out from the stench halfway during the race. Your actions might affect my performance – or worse – _endanger_ my life."  
Lucas places a hand over his chest in exaggeration, long fingers splaying over the bare skin of his chest; the tan brown of his skin a little distracting, the collar of his fitted muscle tee a little too low for your liking.  
"I could say the same thing back to you Lucas. As if that thing in your hands wouldn't affect my performance, or endanger my life later?"  
You lift a perfectly manicured finger at the glass vessel in his hand, pointing accusatorily at the dangerous substance swirling around in the cup.

“Oh this? Come on Y/N, you know this is child’s play to me.”

You raise your eyebrow higher, asking a silent – _really?_ – as you watch your fellow racer down the honey-coloured Jack Daniel’s in one shot – as if the 35% alcohol content wasn’t high enough to give any normal human being a kick. You scoff when he smacks his lips in satisfaction; you know he’s making the sound extra loud to catch your attention and prove his point. Everyone knew to never drink before driving for it was dangerous – that’s what a normal human being would think of. Yet, ever since the first moment you knew Lucas, he was anything but normal. At this point in time, you should no longer be surprised. Shaking your head, you drop the cigarette butt to the hard-tarmac ground, snuffing the last embers out by crushing it under your heel.

“You really are a magnet for danger Lucas.”

You proceed to close the doors of red Ford Mustang before a hand comes to grip onto the handle of your car, halting you in your actions. When you turn to look at the obstruction, you shoot back into your seat a little, rattling the headrest. Lucas’s face was now right in front of yours – the chocolate of his orbs looking like warm chocolate waiting to be savoured, the red of his lips reminding you of strawberries, luscious and sweet. You’re suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to run your tongue over his lips to find out for yourself if they taste like you imagine them to be, and you have to grip onto your handbrake to prevent yourself from taking his face in your hands as you proceed to suck his face. There was no denying that Lucas was handsome but to you, he had always been… _distractingly_ … gorgeous.

Chuckling a little – maybe he saw you being flustered for a moment – Lucas sticks his face closer to yours, his breath now fanning over your lips in an attempt to get you more flustered.

“And you’re a pretty dangerous woman Y/N.”

If anyone else had told you that, it might have felt flattered but this was Lucas, and he was a competitor on the road before he was a potential love interest. Placing your palm over his face, you push him out of your personal space – but you were doing it more for your sake than his.

“That was a pretty shitty pick up line, Lucas, and get your ass to the start line.”

Without waiting for his response, you rave your engine before leaving him behind in a cloud of dust and you’re amused at the sight you see when you check back in your rear windscreen mirror, snickering at a dumbfounded Lucas scrambling to get into his car before racing after you.

\---

Once at the start line, you step out of your car as Lucas pulls up beside you. Fans greeted you with their cheers and hoots, and you turn to wave for a short while before Lucas’s voice calls for your attention again.

“I can’t believe you left me alone Y/N!”

“Why? Is that shocking? Since when have we ever played nice?”

“Oh~ so this is how it’ll be. Two can play this game Y/N.”

_And so, we shall._

Tugging him closer by the collar of his leather jacket, you pull him down to reach his ears, whispering seductively,

“Really? I’ll like to see what you have up your sleeves.”

You then release him, enjoying the look on his face that morphs from shock to disbelief.

“I’ll make sure to show you all that I got.”

“I look forward to it Lucas.”

Before he can get another word in, tonight’s race MC Kun is calling for bets over the PA system and you cross your arms over your chest as you watch Lucas jog up the podium to reach Johnny.

“Kun, I want to make a bet too.”

“Oh? What kind of bet?”

“If I win the race tonight, I get to have a kiss from Y/N – full lip on lip contact.”

The entire crowd hollers at his announcement, the atmosphere heating up before the race even starts. All eyes turn to you now, waiting for your response.

“Y/N, what’s your response to Lucas’s bet? Do you accept?” Kun immediately asks, like the professional announcer he is.

“Kun, you know I’m never one to back down from a challenge. I’m a little bit more pragmatic though; if I win tonight’s race, I get to have Lucas’s Nissan 200SX. It is – afterall – the best car in the current market.”

Lucas doesn’t even flinch at your ridiculous request, wearing a wide smile on his face. He walks down the steps with a prance in his steps, carrying an air of ease as he comes to stand beside you as the final bets are placed.

“You’re not going to win this race Lucas, and I get to have your car.”

“Just wait Y/N, I have a few tricks of my own.”

You hum in response as you get into your car, getting ready to start the race.

Hands on the wheel and gears, you watch the flag in front of you carefully whilst listening for Kun’s voice.

“3… 2… 1… **_GO!_** ”

You slam onto the accelerator as your hands shifts the gear at lightening speed, spinning the wheel using a single hand. You drift into Lucas’s lane slightly on purpose, which catches off him guard, earning yourself a few precious seconds to lead the game. Lucas swears under his breath – he should have saw that coming. It’s your classic move after all – and he knows almost everything about you. He regains his senses immediately, chasing after you at breakneck speed.

On the other hand, you’re cruising along the stretch of road easily, taking your time to round the sharp bends, falling back slightly to see Lucas flail behind you – just _slightly_. If he catches up – which he won’t – you’ll just speed up. You’ve raced this track countless times and you know every method to conquer even the trickiest of turns and drift along the most dangerous roads. You got this; Lucas is not going to win.

But being complacent never ends well.

Too lost in your own thoughts, you completely miss it when Lucas comes up on your left, narrowly squeezing between the metal barrier and your car body. Yet, the thing that throws you off the most isn’t his dangerous manoeuvre, but rather, the words that he yells out.

“I LOVE YOU Y/N!”

His sudden confession shocks you, and you lose focus in that critical moment, giving him the chance to overtake you.

“WHAT THE HELL LUCAS!”

He’s already so far ahead that he can’t hear you and you curse at yourself for letting him sneak up on you. You slam down on the accelerator once more, swerving out with so much force that you scratch the rear of your car against the metal barrier but you can’t be bothered anymore, you need to win this race. This was more about your pride than his bet and you weren’t about to throw that all down the drain.

_Damn you Huang Xuxi!_

You finally see the rear of his white Nissan 200XS as the road in front lights up dimly, signalling that you’re close to the finish line. The sight incentivises you to speed up; maybe you still had a shot at winning this race. Yet, even as you cross the line at 120km/h, it was clear that Lucas was the winner, his car always right in front of yours as both of you worked to bring the metallic monsters to a stop.

“And the winner for tonight’s race is LUCAS!”

You hear Kun’s booming voice over the speaker as you step out of your car, slamming the door with so much force that your vehicle shook. Lucas doesn’t miss the murderous scowl you give him as he stares at you. However, he finds the sight cute instead of menacing and if anything, he thought you looked more adorable when you’re fuming with the tip of your ears blushing pink.

You muster a weak smile as you wave apologetically to your fans, Lucas a sharp contrast to your sullen mood and grim smile. Being an attention seeker, he runs down the length of the barricade, cheering along with his fans as he sweeps his hands over theirs.

“So, Lucas, do you want to claim your prize now or later?”

You roll your eyes at Kun’s comment, sucking in a harsh breath as you suppressed your desire to flip the finger at him – why on earth must he betray you like that, and remind Lucas of something he might have forgotten.

Lucas turns to Kun with a huge smile plastered all over his face before he turns his attention to you. Eyes all sparkly and his pearly whites shining brightly under the bright neon lights hanging overhead, Lucas doesn’t miss a beat, and gives his answer with confidence.

“I’ll claim it now, so come here baby.”

Lucas then beckons you forward with a come-hither motion, the movement of his fingers almost hypnotic as his magnetic gaze pulls you closer and closer. You were complacent with your heart all along – and it seems like it was already belonged to Lucas all along. Throwing all logic out of the window, you let your body move on its own, your feet leading you closer and closer to Lucas until you were standing right in front of him. His hand comes up to cup your cheeks to pull you closer, leaning down so he can whisper against your lips. Despite having you where he wanted you to be, his teasing nature never left him, and he stills decides to play around with you a little, wanting to see you flustered one more time.

“I wonder how your lips taste like Y/N…”

Running your tongue over your lower lips slowly, you whisper,

“Well, why don’t you find out now? Like I said, I’m not one to back down from a challenge.”

Lucas smirks – this was exactly what he found so attractive about you.

“Challenge accepted.”

He dives down, capturing your lips in a single swoop. Running your hand up his chest, you scratch lightly at the fabric of the black muscle tee, causing Lucas to gasp into the kiss. You take the chance to swipe your tongue over the roof of his mouth and you’re right – he does taste like strawberries.


	3. Jeno - Again and again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: NCT / NCT DREAM Jeno x You  
> Genre: fluff, romance  
> Word count: 2.7k  
> Description: “I think it’s great that you have a great sex life but I would appreciate it if you didn’t try to put a hole in my wall whilst doing it.”  
> Author’s note: The prompt may look misleading but I promise – there is no smut in this story.  
> Warnings: Implied suggestive content, mild cursing

_I’m going insane. Please SHUT UP!!!_

Ripping your headphones out of your ear, you sat up in your bed fast, whipping your head around to glare at the wall behind you. The sudden movement made your vision swim from the sudden rush of blood to your head as you slammed your fists down hard. Your innocent Samoy soft toy by your side took the brunt of your force, his beaded eyes almost falling out from the impact. Snapping your head to your bedside quickly, you found your notebook laying there neatly – the perfect weapon for such a situation. You snatched it up from your bedside before using it to pound at the wall behind you viciously, the spine of the book bending at an extreme angle afterwards, some pages crumpled from your iron grip.

Your neighbour seems to have heard you – for the sound of the bed squeaking stopped momentarily and your walls stop shaking. All was peaceful and silent for a short while, and you breathed a sigh of re–

Only to exhale deeply and sigh again when the screams and moans started to fill your ears, coupled with the familiar sound of the bed squeaking. Your walls began to shake – this time more violently – the tremors of your bed making your stuffed toy fall to the ground.

You slump back down onto your bed in defeat, ruffling your hair as you let out a strangled scream tear your throat.

Making a silent promise to deal with your inconsiderate neighbour tomorrow, you tried to fall back asleep, blasting the music one notch higher in hopes of draining out the noise that didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.

\---

Three short raps on the door.

That was what you did when you went to confront your neighbour, instead of banging down the door and storming in like you envisioned yourself to. The door opened slightly by a crack and you caught a glimpse of blonde hair just before the door swung open fully to reveal the owner of the blonde hair.

The first thing that stood out to you was how pale the young male looked. He had a head of white blonde hair sitting atop of his equally pale face, making him look like Casper the friendly ghost. The wide eyes that stared back at yours initially soon melted into twinkling crescents that regarded you kindly, his pink lips pulling back into a sweet smile that showed off his rows of pearly whites. Now, he looked like a Samoyed, with his white hair serving to enhance the resemblance.

On normal days, you might have stopped to appreciate such a fine young man – but – life had been anything but normal for the past few weeks, especially with the noise level that _he_ was creating at ungodly hours of the night (or day.) Hence, you were not in the mood to ogle at your handsome neighbour, and you simply wanted to tell him off so that he would get the clear hint this time round.

You opened your mouth to say something to the male, but you quickly closed it, gulping thickly afterwards as you were completely unsure of how to put into words what you wanted to say to him. Said male in front of you could clearly see your discomfort from your body language – you were mumming your lips together, your knuckles turning white from your hard grip on your bag strap. Wanting to ease your nervousness, he decided to start the conversation first.

“Hi, is there anything I can help you with…?”

_How does one talk about… **that** …topic to a complete stranger? _

You were still angry at him for interrupting your sleep, but the thought of having to breach such an intimate topic to a stranger still was very awkward to you. Your face and neck burst into a bright shade of red as last night’s scene played in your mind, his breathy moans suddenly filling your ears.

_Why are you thinking of that Y/N! GET A GRIP!!!_

Watching as you engaged in an internal battle with yourself, the male became more worried for you, prompting him to question you once more.

“Miss, are you alright? You look pale, maybe – ”

Hearing his voice snapped you back to your senses and that was when your brain’s word filter suddenly malfunctioned at the critical moment, the words spewing out of your lips before you could hold them back.

“Look here, sir, I’ll get straight to the point. I think it’s great that you’re having a great sex life, but I would appreciate if you wouldn’t put a hole in my wall whilst doing it. While you’re at it, I’d appreciate if you could keep your volume down – or if you can’t – make your room soundproof? Your moans are just keeping me up all night and distracting me from my studies.”

You immediately inhaled deeply once you were done, having made your entire speech in a single breath. You made the mistake of glancing over to the blonde and you jumped back in shock when you saw his facial expression, your hands flying to your chest as you let out a small yelp.

The smiling blonde now looked absolutely petrified – and for a moment – you thought you were staring at a statue. Upon hearing your words, the blonde became frozen stiff, his eyes that were blown wide now stared at you, unmoving, as his pale lips were set in a thin line. Then, the most bizarre thing happened. Starting from the base of his neck, red started to rise up his face, covering every inch of his face. His ears, in particular, appear to be burning red and you had half the mind to actually want to ask him if his ears hurt from – what you assumed – must be searing pain.

However, you didn’t get to ask him your question as both of you turned your attention to the new arrival at the scene, heads snapping to the figure behind him. The new boy regarded both of you from under hooded eyelids, his blonde hair with a strip of blue flopping down like a mop on his head. He wore a pout on his face, his lips looking puffy due to the fact that he looked like he just woke up.

“Jeno-ah, who’s this?”

His question ends with a yawn as he raised his hands above his head to stretch – and that’s when both of you see it.

The action exposed his chest, the top three unbuttoned buttons enhancing the view both you and Jeno had. That’s when you see the evidence of last night’s activities – the purple and blue hickeys littering the expense of his chest, right down to his naval just above the waistband of his pants. Both your eyes grow wide at the sight and everything that happens next happens so quickly that you wonder if the events actually transpired, or it was just a figment of your imagination.

Jeno comes to his sense first, lunging at his friend before slamming the door shut with his foot. From your spot on the opposite side of the wall, you can hear the urgency behind Jeno’s hushed whispers, and the disparate difference in the other’s husky, slow voice.

“Ya Na Jaemin! Why did you come out looking like that!”

“What… it’s no big deal Jeno, you’ve seen me with less articles of clothing before.”

You think you hear Jeno sigh deeply, before the conversation continues again.

“We have a guest Jaemin, in case you didn’t realise.”

“I didn’t know until I came out and saw you by the door, can’t blame me man.”

“Ok that doesn’t matter now, just go change into something more decent or at least button up your shirt next time.”

“Jeno, it is buttoned.”

“Button it up FULLY then. Now go.”

“Awww, sending me away already? But ok I’ll go if you answer my question.”

“Na Jaemin, do not ask – ”

“Is she your girlfriend?”

“THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT NOW, GO GET CHANGED!”

You hear Jaemin whine as the sound of his footsteps get further away, before the door is flung open again to reveal a nervous Jeno.

“Hi, I’m terribly sorry about that incident just now. About last night… I’ll… remind him again so… he’ll… keep it down the next time. I’m very sorry about that and I promise it won’t happen again.”

He gives you a bow to convey his sincerest apologies and you hastily mirror it, before the door closes shut in your face again, the sound of running footsteps before a howl of pain travels through the door to reach you.

You stood at your spot unmoving for the next few minutes, trying to process everything that just happened in your mind. After your confused brain was finally able to put together each piece, you quickly slapped a hand over your mouth to muffle your loud gasp – for it finally dawned upon you that you had made a grievous mistake.

_I just blamed the wrong person._

_Fuck._

\---

It didn’t help that you kept seeing the blonde around your neighbourhood – Jeno – as you now know him by. It was inevitable considering how both of you lived in the same neighbourhood but you still cursed your terrible luck.

The first time you saw him, you were walking home from the local bread store which was located right beside the gym. Jeno was walking out after having just finished his power lifting session, his head bent down low over his phone screen. You, on the other hand, were counting the change in your hand as you tried to get a proper hold on the bag full of bread. Neither of you were watching where you were going and a collision was inevitable. The impact sent your bread flying along the pavement and Jeno immediately bent down to help you pick it up.

You profusely apologised as the mystery male helped you gather your stray breads, you quickly bending down to aid the process.

“I’m so sorry about that, I should have – ”

“It’s alright, are you hurt?”

_Why does this voice sound so familiar…?_

Both of you turned to look at the other party right at the right moment and you were sure you must have looked like a fool in front of him because you let out a squeak as your eyes widened to twice their size.

_Of all people, why did it have to be you again, you damned Samoyed!!!_

Jeno, on the contrary, remained calm as he handed you your bread back, having already put the incident that happened at his doorstep behind him. _It was a natural assumption_ – he had reasoned with himself. He was just extremely understanding by nature – like the angel he was. He gave you a small smile as he handed you the bag with two hands, still awaiting your reply. What he didn’t expect was for you to awkwardly bow slightly after snatching the bag from him before you took down the length of the street, curving sharply to enter the lobby of the apartment.

Jeno watched all of this with a twinkle in his eye, his lips curling up into a playful smirk as he let out a light huff.

_She’s adorable when she’s flustered._

That night as you lay down in bed replaying your encounter with Jeno, you slammed your pillow over your face as you tossed and turned in bed, wondering why you always manage to appear so stupid in front of the boy. First, the wrong accusations and second, the bread incident – but perhaps – what you refused to admit was that you were flustered because you thought he looked good in the muscle tee that showed off his well-defined muscles, more so than the fact that you kept embarrassing yourself in front of him.

\---

The second time you saw him, it was… agonising… and frustrating. A hand had slipped through the crack of the metallic lift doors, the resulting clang giving you a fright. You press the button to hold the lift open as Jeno squeezes through the slit to stand beside you. You groan inwardly at your horrible luck once more, but you plaster your best customer service smile on your face. You miss it when Jeno smiles to himself as he watches your cute self, his eyes turning into beautiful crescents once again. The typically short elevator ride up to your floor seems excruciatingly slow today, and you tap your fingers against the back of your hand nervously, hoping that the lift would speed up. Meanwhile, Jeno is enjoying every second of this ride, glad that he got to spend some time in your presence. Yet the smile is wiped off his face when the doors open with a ting, the muffled moans of Jaemin reaching his ears. This time, it was Jeno’s turn to glance nervously at you, sure that you had also caught onto the same thing. He had promised you that he would rein in Jaemin, but it was not working out very well. Both of you padded over to your respective doors quietly, and Jeno kept his head down the entire way out of embarrassment. Both of you stalled outside your respective doors, glancing over at each other nervously.

Pointing to his door, Jeno tried to talk, but he ended up stuttering instead.

“I- I- I’m go- go- go- going to ask him to quieten down.”

For the first time, Jeno managed to see a smile on your face and he was absolutely star struck.

“I don’t think you should, lest you want to walk in and see something unpleasant.”

Jeno lets out a nervous chuckle, scratching his nape as he blushed furiously at what you were implying. You gave him a small smile before entering your apartment, leaving Jeno hanging at his doorstop.

_Aish this Na Jaemin! Why must he always embarrass me in front of her!_

\---

The third time you saw Jeno – well – to be exact, it does not count as seeing him coincidentally for he was the one that actively sought you out. Despite the moans still coming from the other side of the wall at 10pm, you heard the unmistakable knock on your door, the heavier sound reaching your ears much better than the moans. A quick peep into the keyhole showed that your mystery visitor was Jeno, and you unlocked the door, wondering what business your neighbour possibly had with you at such an ungodly hour.

“Hi…” – was all Jeno breathed out when he saw you, still not knowing your name having never asked despite the many encounters you had with him.

_What an idiot you are Lee Jeno._

You caught on immediately, filling in the details for him.

“Y/N, my name is Y/N.”

“Y/N, hi.”

“Yes…? Is there anything I can help you with…?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to study together? Since… you know…”

He jabbed a thumb in the direction of his home, and your lips form an O in understanding. You stood at your spot for a few moments, contemplating if you should accept the offer from your dashingly handsome neighbour.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to! I just thought that since we both need to study; we could go together… doubt we’ll get anything done with the noise level.”

His eye smile was on display again, and it was hard to say no to the adorable face. Besides, he had a point. Nothing had gone in despite poring over your notes for the past 2 hours, and you were so close to giving up until he knocked on your door.

“Give me 5 minutes, I’ll be right back. There’s a 24-hour café at the neighbouring street, we can head there.”

“O-O- Ok.”

Jeno stammered as you ran back to your room, completely not expecting for you to say yes.

_But I don’t mind at all._

\---

“This is much better.”

“It is.”

Glancing up from your notes briefly, you caught Jeno’s eyes before flashing him a small smile, one that he reciprocated.

“Hey Y/N…”

“Hmmm?”

“What if we did this more often?”

“Studying together?”, you said, as you pointed to the table.

“Sure, definitely would not mind a study buddy.”

You turned back to face your books, hiding your shy smile between the pages. Jeno, on the other hand, continued to look at you with his twinkling eyes, happy with your response.

If Jaemin’s noise level meant that he could keep seeing you again and again, he’ll gladly let Jaemin keep it up.


	4. Hendery - Someone like you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: NCT / WayV Hendery x You  
> Genre: fluff, romance  
> Word count: 1.6k  
> Description: It’s nice to find someone like you – a kindred soul that enjoy a sappy love story late at night.

**[00:28]**

The ending credits of the movie rolls across the screen, the words in big yellow fonts glossing over your eyes as a miniature version of the credits form a reflection on your round orbs. You stay in your seat unblinking at the screen, your eyes no longer focused on the image on the screen as your thoughts drift back to the movie just now.

It was supposed to be a romantic film, but you found it to be more than that. It was a poignant story of the growing pains of being a teenager: struggling to make your identity as you navigate your awkward, developing body, the pains of a missed first love, and ultimately of these imperfect pieces forming your personal story of your youth. As the climax approaches, you find yourself trying to choke back sobs as the female lead weeps for a lover that is already too far gone for her to reach, the notion of “what could have been” too much for the audience to bear. There was not a dry eye in the house that night. It was a bittersweet movie, the kind that made you smile and cry at the same time. Perhaps the kind of healing a tender soul like yours needed.

When the screen turns black and the lights come on, you’re reminded that you’re no longer alone in the great hall as the employees’ flit between rows of seats, working with trained efficiency to clean up the spilled popcorn on the carpeted floor and between the seats. Gathering up your small bag, you bow your head as you take your leave, thanking the staff with a small voice as you proceed to leave the venue, who respond with an equally soft voice and a small smile added at the end. Making your way past the red carpeted floor, you step out into the deep night, the bustle of the city gradually slowing down as the noises slowly fade out. The lone car that passes by in front of you causes a momentary disruption to the otherwise quiet night, but the silence soon resumes, the peaceful night giving you some tranquillity. The pink of your sneakers turns dark pink as the last few raindrops land on them, the final one landing square in the middle of your white shoelaces, and you watch as the dot spreads wider. It’s almost like you're held in a trance, unable to tear your eyes away.

You're broken from your trance when the heavy brass doors to the cinema swing shut behind you, causing a low thud to reverberate through the night sky. Your feet start moving on its own, bringing you back to the familiar route home. You walk through the dark and silence with ease; you've done this a million times and nothing has ever happened. You don't expect anything to happen tonight.

Except that it does.

The occasional bark of a dog and rustling of leaves does little to conceal the soft footsteps behind you, and fear seizes your heart momentarily. You hazard a look across your shoulder, and true enough, you catch sight of a pink hoodie in your peripheral vision, one as bright as your shoes. You try to keep your body language neutral, hoping that you're just overthinking, that he'll take a turn down the next street and stop following you. But when you turn into your street and he was still right behind you, it was unmistakable. He was tailing you right from the beginning and you had to put a stop to it now. You were self-assured, you knew you could take him down if you really had to. Swivelling on the balls of your feet, you turn to stare at the stalker dead in the eye.

Except that you found it hard to find his eyes.

His mop of long hair was plastered to his forehead by a black cap, completely obscuring his orbs. For the briefest moment, you wondered how he could follow you when his vision was almost completely obscured, but the tense situation immediately brought you back to your senses, preparing your body for a flight-or-fight response.

“Just so you know, I am perfectly capable of protecting myself, with a black belt in Aikido and years of fighting my numerous siblings for things. So, if you’re planning on attacking me, I suggest you leave now.”

You bring up your clenched fists in front of your face to show that you meant business, and the mysterious boy raised his hands up in defeat, both palms opening wide to face you.

“Woah woah, calm down! You’ve got the wrong idea!”

“How so?”

You narrow your eyes at him and toughen your stance, making it very clear that you’re not buying his story. Very carefully, the boy lowered his hands to his sides, biting onto his lower lip as he contemplated on how to tell you the truth. Placing a hand on his hip, he brought the other one up to scratch behind his head, before telling you the answer in a soft and unsure voice.

“I just...wanted to be...friends..?”

“WHAT?”

Your loud exclamation frightened the poor boy, causing him to jump backwards as he raised his hands once again to defend himself.

“It’s true! I’m not lying to you! I saw you at the cinema and you were the last one to leave and I just thought…”

The gears in your brain start whirring at their full speed, playing back the entire memory from when you first enter the hall to the last moment that you left. And you remember now. You remember him. You stole a quick glance at him as you ascended the shallow steps to get to your seat, mumming your lips together to stop the smile on your face. He stood out from the dark theatre in his pink outfit, an adorable yet unconventional look for a male. Yet taking a closer look at him now… you realise that the colour suited him. A lot. It was almost like the colour pink was made for him. Bringing your attention back to the present, your eyes stop to rest on his face, helping him to complete the last of his sentence.

“And you just thought…?”

“I just thought that it would be good to make friends with someone that enjoys late night movies like myself, in particular, one that enjoys a sappy love story.”

He says it with so much sincerity and a sparkle in his eyes that it was impossible to not believe him and now that he’s swept his hair away from his face, you realise that he couldn’t hurt a fly.

He has the brightest doe eyes and they sparkle brightly under the weak light of street lamp. He gives you a tight-lipped smile, the corner of his lips lifting up ever so slightly – just to let you know that he meant no harm. You decide there and then, that you can trust the guy. If things went south – well – at least you knew you could still take him down. Besides, he was right. Being friends with someone that enjoyed a sappy love story late at night wouldn’t be such a bad thing, right?

“Well then, my newly acquired friend, what do you propose for our first activity together?”

You watch as his face lights up with your question, his lips now wide open to reveal a neat row of small pearly whites.

_Cute._

You have to suppress a smile upon seeing the sight, not wanting to appear like a creep in front of him.

“A self-introduction. Then supper.”

“You first.”

“Ok! My name is Hendery, or you can call me Guanheng if you want to! What’s yours?”

His attention is fully on you now, very much like an adorable puppy waiting for his owner’s next move.

“Hi Hendery, my name is Y/N. Now, where to for supper?”

“Y/N, what a pretty name~ How about the ice cream place on the next street? Also, I apologise for stalking you just now, I needed some time to work up my courage.”

“NEO WAY? Sure. They make a pretty amazing lime sherbet; you should try that. And well, while you nearly gave me a heart attack, I’m just glad that you’re not a creep.”

“No, I’m not a creep. Is lime sherbet your favourite ice cream flavour?”

“Yes. Yours?”

Unknowingly, Hendery had managed to step up to stand beside you and was now leading the way by walking backwards, facing you so that he can talk to you.

“I’m not sure, I never really thought about it. But I can tell you my favourite colour.”

“And what would that be?”

Hendery halts in his steps, and he was now facing you with a very straight face before announcing in a serious voice:

“I like pink.”

He even added a head flick at the end of it, but his cap had fallen off his head in the process. Yet Hendery wasn’t even fazed in the slightest by it, he simply picked it up and dusted it before replacing it on his head, chuckling at his own silliness the entire time. Here was a man that was not shy to make a fool of himself, and that was refreshing to you. You laughed along with him, letting you know that you’re in with him on this.

“I should have guessed. The pink hoodie is clearly making a statement, and the colour suits you so well.”

“Thanks Y/N. I’m so jealous of your pink shoes.”

“If it fits, you can have it.”

“Really?!”

You nod your head vigorously, unable to keep the smile in anymore. The moment you turn to meet his eyes, both of you knew a special connection had been made – and maybe, just maybe – this would be the start of a magical adventure for both parties.

_It’s nice to finally find someone like you._


	5. WayV - WayV as kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: WayV x fem reader  
> Genre: fluff, romance, suggestive  
> Word count: 4.9k  
> Warning!: Suggestive elements for some members  
> Playlist: Face to Face, Love Talk  
> Description: What kisses with WayV would be like!  
> Author’s note: I know it’s mainly supposed to be about kisses with WayV but I got carried away with some of the members and wrote more than that so they’re longer! Nonetheless, I hope you still enjoy reading them ^^

**_Kun._** Kisses with Kun are **sweet.**

Each one is purposeful, and it's hard to not feel the sincerity, love and pure adoration that he has for you behind each one. He gives you one whenever he gets the chance to, to make sure that you don't forget how loved you are. He presses a kiss right below your ear each morning that he gets to wake up next to you. It's the easiest spot for him to reach and it's also the spot that tickles, so he does it just to see your sleepy smile & soft puffs of laughter. He presses a few more to the same spot until you're whining for him to stop, to which he finally relents. Tightening his hold around your frame, he presses one last kiss to your shoulder before he reluctantly detaches himself from your side to get ready; the idol duties still call, as much as he wants to stay by your side.

With what little time he has with you, Kun works in more kisses in the morning. You're grabbing sugar from the top shelf when he wraps an arm around you from behind to press a kiss to your cheeks. He comes back with his own mug, sets it down beside your hand before he moves your hair to the side to press kisses along your neck and shoulder, inter spacing each kiss with an update; either his schedule for the day or the group's latest activities. He thinks it's important to keep you updated on his activities so that you don't worry about him. An effort that you greatly appreciate even if it's such a simple thing. Kun is all too sad when the coffee machine finishes dispensing your coffee, because that's when you detach yourself from his side to let him have the space. At the dining table, Kun holds your hand in his as you continue talking about your days; it's a little hard to eat with one hand only but you don't complain because you know it's his way of having you close for as long as he can before he has to leave again for a few hours. Maybe a few days. Sometimes a few weeks. The ring of the doorbell tells him that his time with you is up but Kun still doesn't let you go. Instead he pulls you closer to press more kisses on your face; the forehead, nose, cheeks and lips before he's finally willing to let you go. He lingers after each kiss because one, he's reluctant to leave and he's trying to buy more time and two, he wants you to know that you're loved and appreciated. Kun usually doesn't leave until the members and managers are banging and yelling through the solid door to ask Kun to hurry up as his phone bursts with multiple missed calls from them – all in an effort to get him to leave your side. "I love you" is the last thing you hear from him before the door shuts, leaving you all alone again. Your face burns where his lips have touched before, the only reminder that he was ever once in the same space with you.

You love receiving kisses from Kun – they're the sweetest thing in the world. But your favourite kiss with Kun? The ones that you give him. He's always giving so much of himself: to the team, to his work, to the fans – but – who's there to take care of him when he needs it? The eyebags and lines around his eyes don’t lie – sometimes work does take its toll. So, when he’s finally back in the humble shared apartment, you don’t ever deny him hugs. You’re by his side before he can even free up his arms to hug you and you’re in them the moment he opens his arms. Kun gives you a tight squeeze before he lets you go to look at your face but before he can open his mouth to ask about your day, you’re dragging him to the sofa, pulling him down beside you as you cradle him in your arms. Well, as much of him as you can anyways. He’s still bigger than you. Kun melts instantly into your touch, letting him be held without fuss. You press a kiss to his hairline, the tips of his pink hair tickling your nose.

“How’s your day?”

“Good because we got to see all the fans. But it’s tiring simply because… well… it’s been a long day away from home. And you.”

As Kun recites what happened at the fanmeet to you, you help him relax by pressing kisses over his face, hands kneading his tired muscles subtlety. When he’s finally done, his eyelids are threatening to flutter close and that’s when you press a kiss to his lips before whispering against them: “Well done today Kun, rest now love.” Your sweet lover complies as he nestles his face into your neck and you rest your cheek lightly against his hair, pulling him closer as both of you drift into dreamland in each other’s arms. He feels safe in your embrace, and you make a silent promise to protect this sweet angel for the rest of your life.

\---

 ** _Ten._** Kisses with Ten are **passionate** and **sensual.**

They start in the most unexpected moments. Your body picks up on the shuffling beside you, slowly rousing you from the sleepy haze of sleep. Hands rubbing your eyes lazily, you turn to face the source of movement, expecting to meet your lover’s face. Except that expectation doesn’t correspond with reality and instead of his face, you’re met by the lenses of his camera instead. The shutter of his camera goes off before you can react, the soft click reaching your ears. You groan in response, shielding your face from his eyes as you roll over to the other side of the bed, burying your face into his pillow; still warm from his residual heat, the smell of his perfume reaching your olfactory senses. There is no way that you’re going to let Ten take photos of your face in the morning, it’s too ugly to be captured. You hear more shuffling come from behind you, before you track the sound of footsteps rounding the bed to reach your side. Settling himself in front of your face, Ten’s soft pleas reach your ear as he begs you to show your face.

“Come on kitten, just one more! You look so pretty in the morning; I just want to document it down to make the moment last forever!”

“No Ten, I do not look pretty in the morning. My hair is a mess, my eyes are puffy and my face in bloated. That’s hardly beautiful.”

“But it is to me…” You open an eye to give him a pointed look, and Ten is giving you his best pout, hoping to gain your favour.

“No.” You close your eyes and promptly go back to “sleep” but it is made impossible by what Ten does next.

“Come on… just one more…” Ten props himself up on his elbows to whisper into your ear, teeth softly biting onto your ear lobe to get you to relent. _It feels good, so ridiculously good_ – but you won’t give in because you don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing the power he has over you – so – you bury your face deeper into his pillow, hoping that it will muffle the soft moan that just left your lips. Ten continues his ministrations – biting, sucking and licking – he’s _so_ sure that you will relent eventually. But when you take too long to respond, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Climbing onto the bed and over your body, Ten straddles your hips, the movement righting your body so that you have no choice but to face him. The shock on your face is evident and Ten takes advantage of the moment to click the shutter once more, throwing his head back in laughter after he inspects the shot as you writhe in frustration beneath him.

“Li Yongqin!” You hardly use his Chinese name so when you do, Ten knows you mean business. He sets the camera down quickly on the bedstand before turning his attention back to you. He apologises sincerely, but it hardly sounds sincere when he’s also trying to stifle his laughter.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, you just look too cute love.”

Ten cups your face with his warm palms, squishing your cheeks slightly before he places a quick peck to your lips to appease you. But when he pulls back, you still don’t look happy – narrowed eyes looking right into his bright ones. Ten, however, remains unfazed – he knows just what to do to make your anger dissipate. The ends of your shirt – his shirt – had ridden up slightly just now when you writhed, and Ten starts working from there. He whispers apologies against the skin of your tummy, lips ghosting over the warm skin as he deeply inhales your intoxicating scent and presses lingering kisses against the soft skin, fingers softly gripping the sides of your waist. Ten moves further, and further up your body, his cute nose pushing the shirt higher, and higher. Your resolve crumbles with each kiss that he presses against your body, and you bite down harshly on your lips to stop your breathy whines; Ten will get too cocky if you let him know how well he’s pleasing you now. He stops when he reaches your ribcage, right below the bone that rests in the middle. Ten is still waiting for a response from you – you haven’t moved an inch since he started his little game, but he wants to get a sign from you, something to let him know that he’s been forgiven. Ten doesn’t know what else to do, so he drags his blunt nails down the side of your ribcage, marking you slightly but careful enough to not hurt. The harsh contact finally breaks your resolve, and you let out a moan at the new sensation. Ten giggles, happy that he finally got a response but his happiness is short-lived when you pull his face upwards towards yours, melding your lips onto his. It’s an intense French kiss, you plunge your tongue directly into his mouth, swiping over the walls of his mouth. Not one to lose, Ten fights back. Both of you battle for dominance, marking one another slightly. Ten continues to run his blunt nails down your body; the sides of your ribcage, the front of your stomach as you press curved crescents into the planes of his back. The need for air forces both of you apart and finally, Ten sees you smile for the first time that morning.

“Am I forgiven yet?”

“Only if you give me another kiss.”

Ten doesn’t need to be told twice before he jumps back into action, pressing kisses along every inch of your body. Even if you hadn’t asked, he would have still done it all the same.

\---

 ** _Winwin._** Kisses with Winwin are... **shy.**

You have to pay attention; else you'll miss it. The sensation goes as quickly as it comes. Most days, you see something flash past the periphery of your eye, feel something soft land on the apple of your cheeks and by the time you react to it, Sicheng is long gone from your personal space, and he's not even looking at you. His eyes are glued to the phone as you stare at him, but the red slowly tinging his ears and the bite on his bottom lip to suppress his smile gives him away. You know he feels the intensity of your stare when he buries his neck deeper into the collar of his jacket, but otherwise, he doesn't do anything else to acknowledge your new attention on him. He looks adorable, like a baby chick wrapped up in layers of blanket and you can't help the sudden surge of affection of that you have for him. Not that you don't love him on a daily basis – of course you do – every hour, every minute, every second – whether he's with or away from you. But today, just in this moment, you love him a tad bit more. Surging forward, you press an identical kiss to the apple of his cheeks and you watch with amusement as your stoic, cool prince loses his poker face; he's still got his lower lip tugged between his teeth but this time, you can see the obvious smile tugging at the corner of his lips, his smile getting wider and wider by the second. _He's cute, he's so adorably cute._ Moving forward again this time, you capture his face in both your hands, pressing a kiss to his forehead, before moving down to leave kisses along his eyes, the bridge of his nose, the tip of his nose, his philtrum and finally, finally, finally – his lips. You press a firm yet quick kiss to his lips, knowing he will combust if you do anything else. You pull back to admire your work with a soft smile on your face, watching as his face burns a shade redder as he struggles to meet your eye. You giggle at the shy boy in front of you – years of being together and he still can't get used to giving kisses or receiving kisses – how adorable. You let your guard down for a moment and boy, what a mistake. Sicheng has the roles reversed within seconds, your back now pinned between the worn leather of the couch and his chest. His lips are yours instantly, moving softly and tentatively against your own. He detaches his rosy lips from yours, only to whisper a very soft "I love you", the skin on your lips barely brushing each other’s. There is so much sincerity in those 3 simple words and you don't hesitate to reply with an equally soft "Love you too Sicheng"

It's alright if you have to be the one giving more kisses in this relationship – Sicheng might not be big with his actions but in these rare moments, you know he loves you just as much, and for that, you are grateful to have this sincere albeit shy boy to call yours.

\---

 ** _Lucas._** Kisses with Lucas are always **messy.**

Both of you never know how the kiss is going to go. He's got an elbow against the kitchen counter, resting his head on his knuckles as he watches you work around the kitchen, admiration for you softly glowing through his doe eyes. You decide to surprise him with a small peck on his lips, taking advantage of the fact that he's not fully awake yet. The poor boy shoots up too fast at the sudden soft contact, knocking his head on the cabinet right above his head – he's too tall for his own good. Your tinkling laughter echoes through the quiet apartment, and in a moment, Lucas is onto you, swinging you around. Albeit a little too harshly. The loud sound of the back of your head making contact with the same cabinet reaches his ears and then his huge hands are flying to cradle your head, hurried apologies spilling forth from his lips. You, on the other hand, still can't stop laughing at how silly this whole encounter is, shaking your head and telling him that it's alright, that it doesn't hurt at all. Hands on his wrist, you place a soft kiss to his palms and then he realises. _Gosh. He's so terribly in love with you._ He dives in for a kiss this time, wanting to make it proper. But still, he can never seem to get it right. Your teeth clash, and he doesn't know what to do with his hands. He can't decide if he wants to cup your face, hold your waist or press them against your hips. So, he lets them roam in a haphazard manner, a few fingers slipping under your loose shirt to press against your warm skin, the other gripping the supple flesh of your thigh. You don't really care if he can't get his kisses right for the rest of his life – and yours. That's what you love about him anyways – raw, eager and always just a tad bit clumsy.

\---

 ** _Xiaojun._** Kisses with Xiaojun are **spontaneous.**

There is no planning or build-up before it happens, _it just happens_. You look up from your laptop, eyes needing a break from the harsh blue light emitting from the screen and they focus on the person right in front of you – Xiaojun. You watch him for a short while, observing the way his perfectly shaped eyebrows furrow in concentration at the one thing he’s scribbling furiously away on his notebook for. His lips are soon pursed, making him look mildly angry although you know it’s more likely that he’s just slightly annoyed. Probably because he can’t get something right. But a second later, you see the corner of his lips lift up as he laughs at himself – or rather – at something that he’s written in his notebook. You wonder what’s gotten him so frustrated and amused at the same time, so you walk over in hopes of being slightly useful in the situation. You snuggle against his side, placing your chin on his shoulder as you press your lips to his sunken cheeks. The sudden contact draws his attention to you and he turns to face you, your lovely face right beside his, pink lips looking so kissable. Xiaojun doesn’t think twice before pressing his lips against yours, it just feels like the most natural thing to do in that moment – see, no planning required. You smile in appreciation when he pulls back slightly, chasing after him to press one back in return to his lips as well. You turn back to face his notebook before he can work in another kiss, leaving him to settle for one on your cheeks instead.

“What are you working on? Need help?”

“Babe, tell me what this looks like.”

Xiaojun hands you his notebook, his arms coming to wrap around your waist once his hands are free. Now, it’s his turn to place his chin on your shoulder, watching as your eyebrows furrow. The cogs in your mind work fast to decipher his drawing and yet, the best answer you can come up with isn’t one you think he will be pleased with.

“So… what do you think it looks like?” He mumbles against the skin of your cheek lazily, letting his sentence drawl on.

“You want me to be honest?”

“Yea.”

“It looks like a cemetery atop of a hill…” You feel Xiaojun pull back from your side in shock and you quickly drop the notebook onto your lap and turn to face your boyfriend, rushing to comfort him and hold onto him before he can pull away fully,

“I’m sorry love! I know that’s probably not the idea you had in mind but – ” You’re silenced by Xiaojun’s lips, his peck swallowing the last bits of your apology.

“Why are you apologising? You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s my drawing that’s atrocious. I pulled back because I was shocked that it was _this_ atrocious.”

“It’s a good effort though, I can –” Again, silenced by his kiss.

“You don’t have to comfort me babe, I know I really don’t have a talent for drawing. But if I told you that I was actually trying to draw a city skyline for my upcoming shoot with Kun-ge, can you see it from the drawing?”

“Oh yea. Yea. Now that you mentioned it, I can!”

You tilt your head to the side as you bring the drawing closer to your face for inspection, fingers pointing out the various details in the drawing to yourself, including the two small figures of Kun and Xiaojun. Your head tilt exposes more of your cheek to Xiaojun, and again, he gives it another quick peck.

“How many more times do you intend to kiss me today, Jun?”

“Hmm… an infinite amount more?”

Your jaw drops at his statement, an incredulous expression on your face as your boyfriend scrunches his nose, eyes turning into crescents as he giggles, thin lips pulling back to reveal his cute little teeth. You slap his arm playfully, cheeks burning at the thought of more PDA in public – what if a member suddenly walks in?

“You’re just too adorable, it can’t be helped babe.”

“No Xiao Dejun, get away.” The words sound harsh, but there is no bite in your tone. He pecks your lips once again before he flashes you his sweetest smile, a decisive “No.” coming from him.

“Bye Jun~”

“Not letting you go so easily!” Before you can even move, Xiaojun has got his arms around your waist, leaning dangerously close to you to pepper more kisses against your face, your arms growing limp against his chest as you stop resisting your boyfriend.

You really don’t know how you ended up here, being locked in Xiaojun’s arms as he peppers more kisses to your face between giggles – it just happened because it felt like the most natural thing to do. Like how loving Xiaojun came naturally to you.

\---

 ** _Hendery._** Kisses with Hendery are... **unpredictable.**

He’s a complete softie in public, but at home, he’s going to be all over you. You truly never know what to expect – because they cover the whole range from cute to downright _hot._ In public, he’s shy – and you figure it’s just because it’s the start of your relationship. He mostly just holds your hands; in the cold winter, he especially likes stuffing your intertwined hands into his pockets. He gives them a small squeeze every now and then, just to let you know that he’s there. Kisses to the back of your hand are also a thing; he’ll just casually brings them to his lips, leave a quick kiss before putting them down again. This is alright for him; he thinks – nothing more than that in public. He might just collapse from embarrassment if anyone caught him doing anything more than that. After all, he’s a shy boy. But in private – it’s a completely different story. If both of you have a whole day to spare at home, his lips are never going to leave your skin at all.

In the morning, Hendery often likes taking your hands from under the pillow, holding them lightly in his hand before pressing kissing to all 10 of your fingertips. You’re usually awake by the time he’s pressing kisses against your knuckles – it’s a good way to start the day. Within the privacy of the 4 walls at home, Hendery gives you all the kisses he wants. A kiss to your forehead, temple, cheeks, lips and so many more places that you’ve lost count by the time noon rolls around. As the afternoon movie plays on the big screen, Hendery has you seated between his legs, exposing the entire column of your neck to him because of the messy bun that you’ve done your hair up in. His slow kisses start from the tip on your neck, lips tracing the knobs along your backbone, reaching as far as he can by craning his neck. When he can no longer reach any further, he moves either left or right, leaving kisses along your shoulder blades as he travels up to reach your shoulder. His kisses are distracting, _very distracting_ – so you pat the back of his hand; one that’s currently wrapped around your hips to get him to stop. He does, but you can still feel his lips against your shoulder, feel his warm breath fan across your collarbones. These types of kisses make your head spin, leaving you tethering close to the edge of euphoria. But they’re not the worst yet – the worst ones are the intoxicating ones, the ones where his presence just floods your entire body, leaving your senses completely inhibited, your mind a mess of incoherent thoughts. The kinds you never see coming.

“Babe.”

“Hmm?” You look up from the book in your hand – only to find Hendery staring down at you, a silent flame burning in his eyes. He wants something from you, you’re just not sure what exactly it is.

“Can I kiss you?” You raise an eyebrow at his odd question – _of course he can._ He knows he can, so why is he asking?

“Yea.”

“Great.”

Hands on the sofa behind you to brace himself, Hendery lowers his face towards yours, tongue immediately darting past your lips and teeth, tongue doing a clean sweep on your mouth as he sucks on your lips. _Oh._ Now you know why he asked. Because it wasn’t the typical kind of kiss he usually gives. This one is completely different, running on pure adrenaline and feral instinct. Hendery doesn’t slow down at all, giving you no chance to dominate the kiss. His lips continue moving against yours firmly, leaving no inch untouched as he presses his body closer to yours. Your head is getting slightly dizzy, both from the fast pace of the kiss and lack of oxygen. Yet you cannot resist him, his presence already flooding your system too much. The inviting warmth of his body, his intoxicating scent, the crazy pleasure from his lips. Sliding your hands up his chest, your twist the straps of his tank top in your hands before pulling him down to the couch with you. Hendery hovers above you carefully as he settles himself between your legs, careful to not crush you with his weight. Yet, you yank him down further, not liking the empty feeling when he gets too far from you. Taking your eagerness as a sign to carry on, Hendery gets bolder, and moves his hips against yours. You whine into the kiss at the new sensation and Hendery immediately pulls away, worried that he had hurt you, the emptiness hitting you like a blast of cold air.

“Hendery… what’s wrong?”

“I hurt you, didn’t I?” You then register the shock in his wide doe eyes and you throw your head back in laughter, having to wipe tears from the corners of your eyes from the intense laugh.

“No… that was… I was… I was just shocked at the sudden contact. But don’t worry, it didn’t hurt.”

“Phew.” His entire body sags as he breathes out a sigh of relief, gently connecting your forehead together. Your breaths mix together in silence for a short while, giving one another time to come down from the previous high. You break the silence first.

“So… are you going to finish what you started?”

“Oh, eager, aren’t we?” He opens his eyes to raise an eyebrow at you, clearly teasing you.

“If I say yes?”

“Then your wish in my command.” You catch a glimpse of the smirk lifting the corners of his lips before he crashes his lips into yours again, leaving you completely at his mercy.

Hendery is never predictable – he can be sweet at times, like the sweetest candy or hot at times, like the blazing fire that threatens to burn if you get too close. But you don’t mind – the unpredictability makes life exciting, after all. Kind of like now.

\---

 ** _Yangyang._** Kisses with Yangyang are **silly** and **goofy.**

You never know when they're coming, or where they'll land. They usually come with some snide remark on the side – something like – "Gosh your hair stinks today. Someone didn't wash" as he walks past you in the kitchen to place a kiss on your temple that's covered by your hair, only to do a double take and take the chance to tease. Cues you giving him the stink eye as he grins at you innocently; you know your hair doesn't smell bad, you washed just an hour before he got up.

On other days, his kisses usually come in surprise attacks. You're reading with your legs laid across his lap, both sitting on opposite ends on the couch. Taking advantage of the fact that you're too engrossed in your book to notice him, Yangyang launches himself at you and decides to blow air against your clothed stomach - the kind where he places his lips against your skin before blowing air through his lips – causing you to burst into fits of laughter at the ticklish feeling. Think of it as blowing a kiss. He moves further up to blow a kiss against your neck, eliciting another fit of laughter from you. He continues doing it without ceasing; he'll blow a kiss, watch you with adoration as your features scrunch up and laughter leaves your lips but just before you calm down fully, he blows another one, causing the entire cycle to repeat again. Yangyang could do this all day if he had all the time in world; he'll never admit it but your laughter is his favourite sound in the whole wide world. He loves it more than anything else in the world. More than the sound of the bass in his favourite songs. More than the sound of revving engines that he grew up loving. The playful fights usually end when you finally turn to meet his eyes, eyelids softly drooping as you look at him with love. Hands reaching up to cup his jaw, you crane your neck up to press a kiss against his lips. It was meant to be sweet, but as always, leave it to Yangyang to ruin the mood.

"Oh, someone's eager for my lips. Just now wasn't enough for you?" Your eyes would widen as you glare at him, immediately releasing his face to smack his shoulders harshly. His jaw would drop in shock, feeling incredulous at your sudden attack.

"Oh honey, it's on." Diving for your jaw, he blows another kiss there just to rile you up, knowing that you're ticklish there as well. You land another smack on his wide back as you unsuccessfully try to stifle your laughter, not wanting to lose to him. You feel him smile against your jaw, and now you've truly lost it, opening your mouth wide to let laughter spill forth again. You may never get a proper kiss from Yangyang for the rest of your life but it's alright – at least he makes you happy – and maybe that's all that matters.


	6. Lucas - Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: NCT / WayV / SuperM Lucas x fem reader  
> Genre: fluff, romance, domestic!au  
> Word count: 1.8k  
> Description: He’s perfect – way too perfect for this world – but he’s also just perfect for you.

As the sunlight filtered into the bedroom, it gradually heated up the room and the warmer temperature slowly roused you from the gentle embrace of sleep. Stretching out your limbs by lying flat on your back, you let out a yawn as your body released the tension from the night before, turning to face the other person sharing the bed with you – a man going by the name of Lucas. And Yukhei. And Xuxi.

Your movements woke him up and he peeked an eye open, a soft “Good morning beautiful” leaving his lips as he tucked an arm under his pillow, propping his face up slightly to observe you in this serene moment. Through his hooded eyelids, he watches you observe him, your eyes now wide open as you scanned his entire face. Even though he isn’t even fully awake yet, Lucas continues looking like a god of beauty himself. His face isn’t puffy, the tan of his skin glowing a warm bronze as the sunlight hits the planes of his body. His hair was sticking up in all the right directions – which you found absolutely adorable because it made him look like a huge, fluffy puppy – but as he ran a hand through them to keep them neat, you can’t help but notice the curves of his toned biceps and chest. His hooded eyelids made him look incredibly sexy but his lips – _oh gosh_ , his lips. They were tinted a soft pink and his plump lips looked so luscious and kissable right now. You would have done it if not for your morning breath putting you off.

It was so unfair. The heavens truly gave Lucas everything when they created him. Looks. Personality. Height. Skills. The full package. Meanwhile the rest of the population had to scramble for scraps. Yourself included. You rolled your eyes as you groaned at the injustice, rolling away to no longer face him. You notice the worry in Lucas’s voice when it drops an octave lower, though you make no move to turn back to face him.

“Why? What’s wrong Y/N?”

_God it’s truly SO unfair. How does this even make sense? Even his husky morning voice sounded sexy instead of coming out as a croak like most people._

You continue to feign anger as you let the next words out of your mouth. “Don’t talk to me Lucas.”

“Why? What did I do!” You could feel Lucas shift his body till he’s right behind you, but he made no move to touch you or move you, worried that you were really angry at him for a legitimate reason.

You flipped over to face him with a huff before you poured out your grievances to him.

“It’s so unfair! Look... look at you! How do you still look so ridiculously good in the morning! Most people look terrible but you still... you still look so good! Argh!”

You pull at your hair to prove your point and by now, Lucas is wide awake. He stares at you unblinkingly as he lets the words sink in.

Then he blinks _once._

_Twice._

Before his eyes crinkle and turn into lovely crescents as his boisterous laughter reverberates through the whole room.

“Babe, that’s what you were angry about? Oh my goodness- I-!” Lucas doesn’t even get to finish his sentence before he was overcame with laughter again, causing the whole bed to shake.

“Don’t laugh at me!”

You land a slap on his biceps before turning back to face away from him, crossing your arms over your chest. After some time, you feel a pair of familiar arms snake around your waist and chest before you’re gently tugged into a familiar warm embrace, your head tucked perfectly under his chin as your back comes flush against his solid chest. Lucas places his mouth by your ear, directly cooing against the sensitive skin of your ear.

“Awww~ so that’s what my baby was angry about? But isn’t it a good thing? All this good stuff is yours. All yours~”

“No. Not a good thing! I have to wake up to such perfection each morning and it just makes my self-esteem drop.”

“Hmmm, looks like I’m not loving you enough. Guess I’ll have to remind you about how perfect you are too.”

Lucas then proceeds to pepper kisses all over your face, hairline and neck as he interspersed each kiss with a good quality of yours. He made sure to give you a very affectionate kiss that was long and with his lips pressing firmly against your skin, releasing with an exceptionally loud sound. After a while, you couldn’t keep a stoic face anymore as you let out a laugh, both from the ticklish feeling of his soft lips against your skin and from the warmth spreading through your body, induced by his sweet words. You had to physically break free from his hold to stop the ticklish feeling, mumbling about needing to wash up and prepare for the day.

His giggles fade into the background as you enter the shared bathroom, proceeding to wash your face.

\---

Lucas sauntered into the bathroom just as you stuck the toothbrush into your mouth, so you had no chance to question him since you couldn’t verbalise your thoughts. You felt the weight atop of your head as he placed his chin there once again. His arms go around to wrap your waist again, warmth spreading from where his fingers touched the little silver of bare skin that's exposed. He contented himself with watching you get ready for the day – just you and him. No distractions. Sometime later, he nuzzled his face into your hair, breathing in the sweet scent of your apple shampoo as he presses a kiss to the crown of your head. Well, just because he can because he's tall. When you proceeded to bend over the sink to rinse your mouth free of the foam, Lucas automatically pulled your hair back into a makeshift ponytail, keeping your hair out of the face long enough for you to make yourself clean. It’s not a grand gesture, but it's these small things that he can do for you that he does willingly – and ones that shows how much he cares for you. No questions asked, no prompting from you. He does it automatically because he's looking out for you all the time. Lucas releases your hair when you're done and you shift to stand beside him, passing him his toothbrush in the process as you proceed to wipe your face dry.

Now, it's your turn to be the affectionate one. Hooking an arm around his bare waist, you use his body as an anchor to bring your face to his back, pressing a quick kiss between his shoulder blades. (It's the only place you can reach with ease. Any further and you'll have to crane your neck.) Lucas jumps slightly at the unexpected contact, and you watch with amusement as his eyes turn into crescents once again through the mirror, your own soon mirroring his as you exit the bathroom giggling.

You're fixing your side of the bed when a strong hand came out to grip your arms, turning you around swiftly to collide head-face into a solid chest. You let out a small yelp at the surprise attack, totally not expecting it at all. You really should to be more vigilant; Lucas does these surprise attacks so often that you should be unfazed by now. Yet, he always still managed to surprise you – both in a good and bad way.

"Lucas! You scared me! What was that for?"

"Needed to catch you off-guard so that you won't be able to escape."

"Escape from what? There's no one here except for you."

"Escape from my kiss attack to show you how much I love you."

Lucas gives you no time to breathe before he launched his kiss attack, holding you tight against his body to give him more access to you, planting kisses on any bare patch of skin that's within reach for him. When he got to your neck, you had to tell him to physically stop, and you're left wheezing for breath when he finally detached his lips from your skin.

"Okok! I get it Lucas, you love me. Alot. I get it."

You put your hands against his chest to keep some distance but the smile on your face told him that there's no ill intention in that movement. You stopped laughing when the smile is wiped from Lucas's face, the mood suddenly turning sombre. He cups your face gently with both his hands, forcing you to look at him.

"Y/N, I meant it when I said you're perfect. You're strong, incredibly caring, and drop dead gorgeous – and the list goes on. I mean it. Promise me you'll believe in that."

The smile on your face grew wider with each word that he says. These words are said in true Lucas style. A man with a heart of gold, he took you seriously and always cared about your feelings. He knew you were joking just now – but even then – a part of him can’t help but worry that you actually meant it. He always checked twice, maybe thrice, to make sure that you’re really alright. He would do _everything_ in his power to comfort you and remind you that you're worthy. He's right – his good looks are definitely something to be jealous of, but you're glad that this beauty is all yours – to admire and treasure for as long as he would allow it.

"With how much you remind me of my good qualities on a daily basis, I highly doubt that I can ever forget that, love. I still think you look perfect, but I was joking about being angry earlier, you know that right? Besides, you have a point. I'm _so, so, so_ lucky that you're all mine to treasure and love. I love you."

Lucas melted at the term of endearment and your sincere confession, a soft "Good" leaving his lips before he craned his neck forward to mould his lips against yours, giving you your first proper kiss of the day. Both of you smiled into a kiss before the need for air forced both of you apart.

“Oh right, I forgot to say it just now but, love you too Y/N. So much. You have to know that." A goofy smile is plastered over his face after he made that statement. Your heart practically jumped in your chest at his love-stricken face, and you raised on your tip-toes to press a quick kiss to his lips once again, physically unable to hold back your overwhelming affection for the gigantic man before you.

With a sweet and perfect guy like Lucas in your life, loving him would never be a chore – because each day, he reminded you of why loving him was worth it. He’s perfect for you, as you are for him.


	7. Yangyang - Good enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: WayV’s Yangyang x fem reader  
> Genre: angst, fluff, bff!au  
> Word count: 4.1k  
> Description: In which you think you’re never good enough – and Yangyang does not know what to do when the strongest person he’s known breaks down.

“Hey, you can put your work aside for now, I got us dinner.” Yangyang announced he enters the shared apartment, closing the door with his foot as his hands were full of plastic bags filled with takeout food. He walked over to place the food on the kitchen’s island counter, right beside your pristine sleek silver laptop. He started unpacking the food from the red and blue plastic bags, making sure to buy your favourite dumpling soup from the stall at the end of the street, even though it took him a good 20 minutes to get there; he’ll do it for you – his best friend and roommate. He knew you’ve been working hard this semester, and whilst he can’t help with lightening your workload, he figured he could at least make you slightly happier by keeping you well fed.

You, however, ignored his presence entirely. Your eyes remained glued to the glaring laptop screen, the pages upon pages of words practically screaming at you to read them, yet the dull throb at the back of your head made it hard to get anything done. You’re reading the words but you’re not processing them. You’ve been going at the snail’s pace for the past 2 hours, only getting through 5 pages of this article. Yet, you’re not even sure if you’ve understood everything from the past 5 pages of it. Could you even tell a difference between Freudian theory and humanistic psychology now? Ask a toddler and they might be able to give a better answer than you can. Still, you’re the stubborn type – you truly never knew when to stop or take a break for your own good – and so you keep going.

_Till the end of this chapter. Just 2 more pages before I take a break and have dinner with Yangyang._

You tune out the noises that Yangyang made beside you, tightening the grip on your mouse and fixing your stare on the screen more firmly. You will your heart rate to go down, torn between not wanting to keep Yangyang waiting versus finishing the chapter.

When all the food has been placed neatly into plates and scooped perfectly into bowls, Yangyang prompted you to take a break again.

“Let’s have dinner together now?”

“I know, Yang. Just 5 more minutes.” You snapped back immediately, tone clipped and tense.

That’s when Yangyang knew that he’s hit a nerve. He wanted to protest against your statement but he knew better than to do that. He’ll just anger you further. Hence, he bit back his remark, opting to chew on his inner cheek instead. Being your best friend for years has its pros and cons. The pro: You’re smart, which meant that he’s always got someone to help him whenever he got stuck with his assignments and a sharp eye to catch his mistake. After all, you’re not a double major in Psychology and Sociology for nothing. Not everyone got to boast about that. The con: Yangyang knew you well. Too well. In fact, better than he knew himself. He knew that you won’t back down from anything you say once it came out from your mouth. He also knew that you’re always determined to finish what you started. So when you said 5 more minutes, he knew that you actually mean “Till you finish that chapter” and that no matter what he said, you would not move from your seat or touch your food until you’re done doing what you’ve set out to accomplish.

Plopping down in his seat diagonally across you, Yangyang had to make do with eating dinner alone again (for 5th night in a row that week) At least this time he got to sit in your presence – the previous nights, you had simply brought your food into your room, typing away on your laptop between mouthfuls for food.

-

Throughout dinner, Yangyang chewed silently so as to minimise disturbance to you. He stole glances at you from time to time, trying to gauge when you’re about done with your article. He knew how to observe when you’re almost done – your eyeballs would move rapidly from side to side, rushing through the last paragraph before closing your laptop shut. But even as he swallowed his last bite of dinner, he knew you’re not done. You’re still stared intently at the screen, eyes unblinking and posture stiff. Your head is propped up on your knuckles as you used your other free hand to move your hair away from your face before resuming its original position against your mousepad, slender fingers moving smoothly across the surface of the pad. Yangyang thought he saw the faint outline of a vein against your temple and the tight clench of your jaw. You’re tense, _extremely_ tense. You clearly need a break.

Gently, he prodded again. But he doesn’t get another word in before you snapped at him again.

“Hey, maybe – ”

“I know, Yang. I know. Just... just give me another 5 minutes...”

He heard the exasperation in your voice, noticed the way you seem to became smaller in stature; your chest collapsing into itself as your voice becomes so incredibly small that he could barely hear you despite the silence in the apartment. Were his eyes playing tricks on him, or were the edges of your eyes red? Something wasn’t right.

“Are you ok?”

“No, Yang. I’m not. I’m not ok.”

You snapped your head up to stare at him dead in the eye so quickly, that Yangyang worried that you might have snapped it into half. Your chest is heaving violently now, the silver necklace on lying on collarbones now glinting as it caught the artificial light from the lightbulb that hung above you. Your eyes got redder and glossier by the second, rare tears pooling around the edges.

“I’m not ok. This semester is going terribly and I just want to be done with it! It’s a groupwork but I’m the only one doing something. If I don’t say a thing, no one else does anything. Work meant for 5 ends up being done by 1. Yet there’s nothing I can do except suck it up because we’re at this stage where no higher authority would care if you can’t work with others. Just submit the work and be done with it! So, I suffer silently and hope I don’t break before I submit the thing.

Gosh, I feel like I can’t even breathe because once I submit one assignment, I get another message saying that the new one is due at the end of the week! Just great!”

At this point, you stopped to collect your breath, the first tears streaming down your face, the tinge of saltiness staining the tip of your tongue.

“Professor Wang is not happy with my paper and she’s ‘extremely disappointed’ with my work. So much for being a damn straight A student when I can’t even submit a satisfactory piece of work. Oh, not to mention. I failed my driving test. For the 3rd time in the row. _How pathetic._ Went home and I got vindicated about it the entire weekend! ‘Your sister did it in one try. So did the rest of your cousins. Why can’t you?’ Well – it’s just too bad isn’t it? Driving doesn’t come easy to some of us. I’ve been trying so hard and not a word of acknowledgement from them – I just get blamed for wasting money and time.”

At this point, you stabbed the tip of your pencil down hard on your blank piece of paper, causing the pencil lead to fly across the table top. Your knuckles were red from the vice grip you had on the pencil; your head bowed to prevent Yangyang from seeing the waterworks on your face. This entire time, Yangyang’s heart cracked with each revelation, never knowing how much you were hurting inside from all the pressure others were putting on you. Most importantly, the pressure that you were putting on yourself. He saw you every day... how could he be so blind to all the signs? The late nights, your quieter self, your bloodshot eyes. How could he possibly miss all that? He heard you suck in a deep breath, head still bowed as you place your head against your palm. From beneath the curtain of your hair, he heard your weak voice filled with hurt, voice wavering as you choked on your own words.

“I get it. I get it ok? I get that I’m not good enough. For anyone. For... anything. No matter what I do... what I try... I’ll never be good enough. I could try till I break myself but I’ll just never be good enough. I’ll just never, never, never be good enough and it hurts to be _so painfully, aware of that._ ”

You finally looked up to face him - and Yangyang swears; he sweared on his life that he’s never seen you look so broken before and the sight immediately made tears prick the corner of his eyes.

And that sight makes you cry even harder.

You didn’t think that you were capable to producing more tears, not when your eyes were burning and you’re already so physically exhausted – but you do. You hated seeing him sad because he’s worried about you – the thought of making someone worried because of you showing your weakness – brought fresh tears to your eyes. The last thing you wanted to do was to make your friends or family worried for you, and you _absolutely hated_ being the cause of their pain. You had to slap a hand over your mouth to stop your strangled cry from leaving your throat, you didn’t want to make Yangyang anymore worried that he already is.

“Oh, I can’t do this anymore. I need to stop hurting people around me.”

That was the last coherent line that you managed to get out of your throat before you stumbled out of your chair, making a beeline for the bathroom so that you could cry alone. If he saw you break down anymore, you were certain he would start crying too and you didn’t want to be the cause of his pain anymore. You slammed the door shut behind you and proceed to slump down against the door, your weak body not even registering the heavy contact with the floor. The chilling bite of the cold tiles quickly seep through the floor to reach your body and your body shakes violently, but at this point in time, you’re not sure if you’re shaking violently from the cold, or the crying that is currently wrecking your body in waves. Strangled cries bubble in your throat, threatening to escape you but you clamped your lips shut tight, hoping that no sound would escape you. But you're not sure if that does the trick – you can't hear anything else over the wild thumping sound of your heart that currently filled your ears. You cried and cried and cried, the endless tears falling to stain your brown shirt into a darker shade of brown. In the past, you would have fought your tears, hating to show such a weak image in front of others and detesting yourself for doing so. But today, after months of fighting yourself and others, you're finally willing to concede – and for once in your life – you're willing to admit that you're too tired to fight anymore. You let your body does what it has to do to help you feel better – even if that meant crying yourself dry and hoping that all the pressure you've placed on yourself will be expelled through your tears.

Throughout this entire ordeal, Yangyang sat shell-shocked in his seat, unable to move an inch. He can't really make sense of the mess of emotions he's feeling right now – but one particular emotion does stand out compared to the rest – shock. I mean – what does one do, when the strongest person you've ever known broke down in front of you? In this entire time of his 10 years knowing you, Yangyang might have seen you cry, but he's truly never seen you completely break down and reduced to tears by the pressure. Sure, he's seen you cry – when both of you are watching a particularly sad movie or you're listening to the harrowing history told by war survivors. But Yangyang has never – never ever, ever – seen you broke down from the pressure. That's why this episode was particularly shocking for him, because for you to do so, Yangyang knew that you must be under an immense amount of stress, to the point where you can't cope with it anymore. He thought back to all the times he's spent with you, and he cannot even conjure up an image of him comforting you. In fact, all he seemed to remember is being comforted by you. The countless amount of times he's called you over the phone to rant about someone's stupidity or a particularly infuriating incident – which usually ended with both of you eating dessert as he finished making his complaints between bites of ice cream. The infinite amount of post-it’s you left all over his belongings when you know he's going to have a rough week. He remembered when you showed up at his doorstep without him having to ask, immediately opening your arms to wrap him in a hug as he freely cried into your shoulder – the first time when his dog died from old age, and a couple more times after when he failed important things; tests, auditions and interviews that at that time, meant the world to him. In this friendship, you've always been the strong one, never once admitting that you're having a hard time. But Yangyang knew better now; should have known better earlier, that no one could be a superhuman. No one is truly invincible against the harsh realities of life – not even the strongest person he knew – and Yangyang wished that he had noticed the changes in you earlier. Of course, he knew that he's not fully responsible for you – you're an adult that should know how to manage herself and ask for help when she needed it. But as your best friend, maybe he should have checked up on you sooner. After all, that's what friends do for one another – to remind each other that they're always there should they need it. Maybe things would have been better if he had checked up on you earlier but it's too late to think about that now. Right now, you've locked yourself inside the bathroom to cry your heart out, and Yangyang's main priority as your best friend is to make sure that you're not left alone with your own self-loathing thoughts; to make sure that you're comforted – just like how you've comforted him so many times before. Yet Yangyang still can't seem to move an inch. He does not know exactly how to comfort you, he's never had to do this before.

_Come on Yangyang, think. What should you do?_

He fumbled over his few options – play you your favourite music, or buy you your favourite peppermint ice cream with bread from the uncle with the pushcart, or crack a joke. In the end, he decided to go with what he knew the best – comforting you like how you comforted him and Step 1 involved not leaving you alone with your own thoughts by having someone from your side.

Yangyang bolted from his seat, pacing quickly towards the bathroom before stopping outside the white door to rap his knuckles against the door, the rattling motion jolting you out of your stupor.

"Open up. Don't stay in there alone ok?"

"No Yang, please just leave. I'll be fine-" You catch yourself at this part. Are you truly fine? Were you ever truly fine? Whenever others asked you how you're doing, your default answer would be that you're doing fine. Even though you were struggling, the answer would be – "I'm fine." or "I'm doing well." You never wanted others to probe or ask too many questions, admitting to your struggles often made you embarrassed. Worse still, you didn't want family and friends to worry about you. "I'm fine" soon became a reflex, something you said without even processing the question that the other party had asked.

Your train of thoughts were broken when you heard Yangyang's voice travel through the door separating the both of you.

"No, you're not fine. I'm not leaving you alone so please open the door now."

"No Yang, I'm fine- I- just give me a few more minutes. I'll be out soon."

You heard Yangyang sigh heavily, his last words reaching your ears followed by the sounds of his footsteps walking away.

"I'm getting the keys."

"No Yang, don't you dare!"

You tried to raise your voice, but it betrayed you instead, cracking from being overused just now. You stomp your feet in frustration, feeling helpless once again. Yangyang was going to see your wrecked self soon, and there was nothing that you could do to stop it.

Yangyang quickly sifts through the keys hanging by the front door before making his way back to the bathroom, slotting the key into the lock before twisting the door open. Once again, Yangyang was met by the harsh bite of your tone and words, but he brushed it aside. Your cold words directed against him is the least of his worries now. Comforting you, however, was his main priority.

"I said I'll be alright Yang, why-"

"You're clearly not ok. I know now. You're not ok. You haven't been ok for some time now."

You stood still when you heard him say such things, the words feeling foreign to your ears. No one has ever said those words to you because no one has ever saw through the strong front that you've put up before. Or even if they did, no one thought it was important enough to mention it. Someone finally noticed _and_ cared enough to talk about it, and somehow that revelation made you want to cry again. Seeing you standing there unmoving, Yangyang decided to say something to break the silence again.

"You don't have to be ok all the time. So, would you just stop putting up a front for once, admit that you're not alright, and let me in? Come here."

This time round, you no longer resisted, allowing Yangyang to gently draw you into his embrace as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders, rubbing comforting strokes up and down your arms. Fresh tears streamed down your face at Yangyang's gentle gesture; you probably made a mess of his clean shirt but he could care less, that's not important now.

"Cry it out. Cry it out if you have to."

"Stop saying that! You're going to make me cry more."

"And that's completely alright. There's nothing wrong with crying."

"It's so embarrassing to cry – what do you mean there's nothing wrong with crying?"

You heard Yangyang take a deep breath, feel the rise of his chest against your cheek and you mentally prepared yourself for his lecture.

"There really is nothing wrong with needing a good cry to let out all your pent-up frustrations. There's nothing wrong with admitting that you need help, and asking for it. Can you internalize that and remember to come and find me when you're having a hard time? You do the same for me when I'm having a rough time, can you let me do the same for you? Even if you don’t come and find me, make sure you find someone else. Promise me that."

You stayed silent, not sure if you could ever bring yourself to admit being so weak in front of him again.

"Promise me." He shook your shoulders to elicit a response from you and you decided to grace him with a disgruntled muffle; not exactly the response that he was hoping for but he'll take that as a yes for now.

"Good. If you're ready to talk, we can work out how to go about dealing with your assignments and driving ok? Tomorrow we'll go see Professor Wang and get her to elaborate on how to improve your essay. As for driving... maybe take a break first. Like you said, you've been practicing a lot. Maybe too much. Knowing you, you probably went for tons of lessons before your tests. Am I right?"

You nodded weakly against his chest, a wry smile lifting the corners of your lips as memories of your driving lessons are brought to the forefront of your mind.

"Knew it. So, yea... maybe you should take a break. Give yourself time to absorb all that you've learned before you go back for lessons. The break will do you good – trust me on that. I'm only so carefree because I take more breaks than I should." Yangyang chuckled at his own words and you followed suit, your chest rising and falling as you let out soft puffs through your nose.

"Now that we've got a plan out for you, we should do one last thing."

"What is it?"

"We should get ice cream. And then you can rant about your teammates over ice cream. I want to get all that hot piping tea."

For the first time in a long while, you found the heart within yourself to let out a laugh, memories of Yangyang and his animated storytelling of terrible groupmates tickling your sides. _Oh, how the tables have turned._ It was finally your turn today. 

“So… are we going? Just waiting for your reply now.” 

There was no way that you were going to be able to say no to that, eating ice cream and complaining about people whilst eating was something that you and Yangyang always did; a sacred part of your relationship.

“Alright we can go, but let me wash up first and give my eyes some time to stop being red.” 

“WOOHOO! Ok, we’ll go once you’re ready.”

Both of you fall into comfortable silence again, Yangyang still held onto you in an embrace. 

“Thank you, Yang.”

“You’re welcome. I’m always available if you ever need me. Even if I’m busy, I am going to make time for you so come find me anytime ok?”

“Ok, I’ll remember to come find you next time.”

“There – you said it. You got to promise me. With a pinky swear and stamp.”

Yangyang removed an arm from your shoulder to place his hand in front of your face, his pinky finger sticking out from the rest of his fingers. You lifted your hand to hook onto his pinky before pressing your thumb against his own, using a little more force than usual and Yangyang smiled at that, knowing that it’s your way of saying that _“I’m feeling better now. You don’t have to worry so much about me anymore.”_

“Pinky promise is done so you can never break the promise anymore. Oh, we’ll get extra-large scoops of ice cream later, my treat today!” 

“Sounds like a good plan, because I’ve got loads to say about my trashy group mates.”

“Awesome. Been dying to get some gossip lately, and now I’m finally going to get it.” 

You let out another hearty laughter at your best friend’s dramatic self, him following suit but when the laughter finally died down, you got some quiet time to be with your own thoughts again. 

They often said that your worst enemy is yourself, and maybe that’s true for you. You constantly placed so much pressure on yourself, tearing and beating yourself up when you fell short of your goals because your failure is all that you could see, never the commendable effort that you put in or your perseverance to pull through with all your various responsibilities. You suffered silently by yourself even when the pressure became overwhelming, never one to admit your struggles because you didn’t want to be a burden to others – even when no one ever said you were. But today, you had been proven wrong. No one thought of you as a burden, and no one would say that you’re weak or embarrassing when you asked for help. And that if you did ask for help, those around you would actually come forth to render you their support. That’s what friends are for, to share the good times with, and to pick you up when you fell – and you were extremely lucky to have an understanding friend like Yangyang in your life. After all, no man is an island living in this harsh world alone – it’s easier to get by with help from friends and there will be someone willing to help you, if you’d only just remember to ask. You knew that old habits die hard, and perhaps even after this, you would go back into your shell and old ways. Yet, you’re confident that with a friend like Yangyang, someone would be there to look out for you, and coax you out of your shell whenever you forgot to take care of yourself again.


	8. Doyoung - Let me love you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: NCT 127 Doyoung x fem reader  
> Genre: fluff, romance, (slighttt) angst (if you squint)  
> Word count: 2.9k

“Hey darling, what movie – ”

Doyoung words gets cut short as he emerges from the shower – only to find you missing from the shared master bedroom. His laser beam projector is still projecting a blue screen on the wall right in front of the bed and the remote control lies forgotten on the white covers of the shared bed. You were supposed to choose a movie for the two of you for movie night so where were you now?

_Maybe she went outside to get snacks._

Towel in hand, he continues rubbing his wet hair as he steps out of the master bedroom in search of you. He spots you by the dining table, but his eyebrows furrow at the sight of your hunched figure over the dining table, clearly struggling with something in your hands. He moves closer to you but even then, you don’t notice him for you are much too engrossed with that mysterious item in your hand. Doyoung finally sees it now – a medicinal patch placed over your right wrist as you struggle to wrap it up in compression bandages. Bottom lip between your teeth with your glare fixed on the white bandage with intent, you twirl the bandage with your left hand as you try to keep the medicinal patch steady with the other – but to no avail. Either the medicinal patch keeps shifting from its position on your wrist, or the bandages come loose with corners sticking out from weird angles. It’s not neat enough for you, and you end up redoing the bandages again and again. When you’re satisfied with the way the bandages are done, there comes the next challenge – cutting the bandages. You struggle with the task because for some goddamned reason, the scissors just won’t cut through the thick material. The bandage keeps shifting on the table and makes a mess out of the entire area. A quick glance at the wall clock tells you that it’s been 15 minutes since you’ve been struggling to put on your bandages and by now, you’re perspiring slightly and getting frustrated. You let out an exasperated sigh and that’s when Doyoung snaps out of his stupor and marches over to help you.

“Here, let me help you.”

His sudden appearance gives you a small fright and you shoot up on your seat, nearly snipping his fingers with the scissors. You notice the close shave and, in your shock, you admonish Doyoung.

“Doyoung, you scared me! Don’t do that next time – I nearly cut your fingers!”

You expect a retort from Doyoung, even something as slight as an eye roll; he always loved to tease you when you became dramatic – but this time round, there’s none of that. Your husband’s face remains stoic as he pulls out the adjacent chair to sit on it, his hands moving forward towards your injured wrist. Instinctively, you pull back, not used to receiving help from others.

“Doyoung, it’s fine, I can do it myself.”

Your words scald his ears as his heart sting upon hearing your harsh words. The acid in his mouth pricks his tongue as he bites down hard on his lower lip; enough to draw some blood. He doesn’t understand – why are you struggling alone? He’s your husband, and he’s at home – _literally right there_ in the living room with you now – he’s in the perfect position to help but yet you won’t let him? Doyoung decides that he won’t let you struggle alone anymore, and pushes forward with his request.

“No, you clearly could use some help so _please_ – let me help you.”

His heavy words slice the air between the two of you, his pleading tone notifying you that something was wrong. He finally lifts his downcast eyes to look into yours, and it’s the look of finality in them that makes you finally relent. You sit still in your seat as he swiftly snips the bandages and you don’t resist when his callused fingers reach out to guide your wrist towards him gently. You watch his face carefully as he sets to work on your wrist, and Doyoung can feel the burn of your gaze on him. Still, he refuses to look at you, not wanting to address the issue just yet. For now, he wants to focus on wrapping your wrist up properly – the discussion can wait till later. He also doesn’t want you to see the look of hurt on his face – he knows he can’t help it for he’s a man that wears his heart on his sleeve. But he also knows that you’ll feel bad about making him upset, and he doesn’t want you to feel worse than you already do. Yet, your persistence does not allow the silence to last for long, your constant probing making him relent.

“Doyoung, what’s wrong?”

 _Silence._ Doyoung adjusts the medical patch properly over your wrist.

“Love, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

 _Silence again._ Your husband continues wrapping the bandages around your wrist, making sure to align the edges properly neatly like how you like them to be.

“ _Doyoung._ Look at me. Talk to me.” Your husband is being stubborn right now and your uneasiness was growing – he’s not usually this silent, just what exactly was going on? Doyoung adjusts the netting to fit snugly over your bandages and finally lifts his head to look at you. His face remains stoic and composed, but through his eyes you can see a whirlwind of emotions behind them. His eyes were always the most expressive part of him – they were the pair of eyes that you fell in love with, and the pair of eyes that tell you all that you need to know about him when words fail. Right now, they were clearly telling you that he’s hurt. He can never lie with his eyes.

“I did something wrong, didn’t I?”

“No darling, you didn’t do anything wrong. I just wish you’d ask me for help sometimes, especially when I can be there for you.”

“So, this is what this is all about? Me not asking you for help with my bandages? Doyoung, I’m an independent adult. I can wrap bandages and take care of my injuries myself. I don’t have to trouble you with simple things like these.”

“You were clearly struggling just now. I saw everything. Why don’t you ask me for help?”

“Yes, I was struggling just now but I would have gotten it done if you’d given me more time. I’m independent. I can do this on my own.”

All this while, Doyoung holds your injured wrist against his cheek, listening to you intently without cutting you off.

“Yes darling, I know. I know you’re an independent person, and I’m not negating that by asking you to ask me for help – please know that. It’s just that… I’m right here. I’m here to offer my help to make life easier for you by helping you. I don’t want to see you struggle when you don’t have to. I’m your husband and as someone that loves you, I promised to take care of you when you need me to. So please… in future… please just let me help you. Allow me to love you through the small things that I can do for you. Ok?”

Doyoung presses a soft kiss to your bandaged wrist when he says the last word, his beautiful eyes looking into yours as he holds your gaze with sincerity. How could you ever say no to those pleading eyes? The powerful emotions of love and appreciation gush to the surface and you let out a soft exhale, blinking slowly as you nod your head. Doyoung graces you with a soft smile at the sight; he's happy with your response but he's not quite done yet. Your husband releases your bandaged hand from his cheek and proceeds to hold both your hands with his, prompting you to look at him again. He's still got something to say – you can read it from his facial expression and body language.

"Also, when did you go to the doctor? And how did you even injure your wrist?"

You chuckle at the last question, finding the situation ridiculous as well. How do you explain this without feeling stupid?

"My wrist got injured because I overworked it. I know sounds _absolutely ridiculous_ , but I'm not kidding. I've was rushing some urgent work projects and I sprained it drawing and typing too much.”

“You should have rested in between.”

“It didn’t occur to me then; I was too engrossed with finishing the projects. I did after I submitted the projects thinking it’ll do the trick but it’s been hurting for the past few days so I went to see the doctor this morning.”

“You went alone?”

 _Here it is._ You already know he’s going to react and you sigh internally before answering.

“Yes. But! Before you say anything, let me explain. I didn’t ask you to go with me because I know you had a recording session today for the solo album. That is a huge thing. I didn’t want to mess up your schedule.”

This time, it’s Doyoung turn to sigh as he firmly holds your gaze.

“Darling, nothing could be more important than you – you have to know that. I could have accompanied you there before heading back to record. You should be resting your wrist but yet you’re driving yourself there and doing all sorts of things with your injured wrist. How’s it going to heal like that?”

Doyoung turns towards the kitchen and points towards the fridge, referring to the grocery shopping you did after your visit to the doctor. You gnaw on your lower lip. Doyoung is always the more logical one. You cannot argue with him on this one.

“Asking me for help also includes asking me for help with things around the house because we own this place together. From today onwards – until your wrist gets better – I’m doing the cleaning, cooking and heavy lifting. You can do everything else yourself.”

You nod your head, satisfied with the deal. At least he’s not asking you to just sit there and look pretty – you would be fighting him now if he did. Doyoung knows you love your independence too much to surrender it.

“Did the doctor say anything else?”

“She just told me to rest my wrist, eat my medicine and apply the medicinal patch every night. Oh, and to massage my wrist from time to time. Nothing unusual.”

Doyoung perks up at the last piece of the information – _finally_ something that he can help you with.

“How are you supposed to massage your wrist?”

“Like this.”

You remove your hands from his grip on your wrist and begin rubbing circles on your wrist and finger joints, but focus mostly on your thumb since that was where it hurts the most. Slowly, Doyoung takes over from you, constantly glancing up at you to check if it hurts. You nod rapidly and make a hum of affirmation; Doyoung doesn’t stop until you tap the back of his hand to signal him to stop. He doesn’t even get the chance to straighten up fully before he’s caught off-guard by the quick peck you place against his lips. You pull back just enough to mumble against his lips: “Thank you love.”

You proceed to move out of his personal space but Doyoung doesn’t let you get any further – he places a hand at the back of your head, bringing you down to his lips again for a second kiss. Lips travelling up, he presses a tender kiss to your forehead before whispering against them.

“You’re welcome. Also, you want to go pick a movie for us? Movie night isn’t over yet. I’ll clean up the dining table and bring some snacks in.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Doyoung finally releases you from his hold and you end up choosing “The Farewell” for the both of you to watch. Throughout the movie, you feed Doyoung the snacks as his hands continue to rub circles on your injured hand, making sure to apply light pressure. The action was so soothing that you almost fall asleep halfway through the movie but you pull through. That night, you sleep with your injured wrist propped up on a small pillow (courtesy of Doyoung) as Doyoung tucks you under his chin, wrapping a protective arm around your waist.

\---

You wake the next day to an empty bed – which is odd, considering how neither Doyoung or yourself are early morning birds. Careful to not place pressure on your bandaged wrist, you move into the bathroom before gingerly removing the bandages. You wince slightly when you place pressure on your thumb to brush your teeth but there was no way that you are going to ask Doyoung for help with brushing your own teeth.

_Speaking of Doyoung, where is my husband?_

You keep the thought to yourself; maybe he had to go back to the company early. So of course, you were pleasantly surprised to find him in the kitchen when you step out of the bedroom. Walking closer, you notice the stack of pancakes on the dining table – most certainly Doyoung’s work. It’s clumsy, but nonetheless made with love. Some parts of the pancakes are burned, their shapes uneven. A bowl of strawberries is also placed on the dining table, the water droplets still glistening on the red surface of the strawberries. Even your medicine is laid out in a tiny dish. Clumsy as they are, all of these were Doyoung’s little acts of service – and you could see all the effort put in. He keeps true to his promise – to help you whenever he could. Walking past the dining table into the kitchen, you greet Doyoung.

“Morning love, what’s the special occasion today?”

“Oh! Morning darling. Nothing special, just didn’t want you doing too much when nursing an injury. I did say that I’ll do the cooking.”

Upon your arrival, Doyoung reaches for your wrist to massage your injury again as he turns towards the breakfast he made. You notice the way his smile falters, probably feeling bad about the visual appeal of the breakfast. But that wasn’t important to you. You were simply appreciative of the fact that he took time and effort to make you breakfast – it’s really the thought that counts. All you feel right now was adoration and gratitude for the man in front of you – though said man was oblivious of the heart eyes that you were currently throwing him. 

“Look, I know the pancakes aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing but I gave them my best shot. I promise!”

“I know, love. I know you tried, and for that – thank you.”

Doyoung relaxes at your kind words, glad that you don’t mind the odd-looking breakfast. Taking advantage of his moment of vulnerability, you leap onto him and catch him off-guard again. Doyoung had to brace himself against the kitchen counter as the weight of your body and kisses had him bending over the marble surface of the table. Unable to physically contain your love for your husband any longer, you attacked him with your lips, pressing one kiss after the other to his lips as your own way of saying “thank you” to him. Your kisses leave Doyoung _absolutely breathless_ but when you finally slow down, he seizes the golden opportunity to gain the upper hand. Pressing back against you, Doyoung easily towers of you and now, you’re the one that’s being bent of the marble table top but Doyoung never lets you fall – he’s supporting you with his arms around your waist. Doyoung eventually decides to spice things up, now proceeding to press kisses around your face and causing you to break out into laughter. The kissing session might have been cut short, but Doyoung has already decide to spend the rest of the day staying home to shower you with more love and kisses. He admires your joyous self with a bright smile on his face; he loves seeing your smile, loves hearing your bright laughter. When you finally calm down, you reach out to pull your taller husband down to your height to connect your foreheads, simply wanting to feel close to him. Doyoung closes his eyes and relishes in the feeling of having you close, tightening his hold around your waist to hug you tight.

“Thank you Doyoung. _Thank you for choosing to love me._ ”

“I could live a million times over, and I’d still choose to love you again, and again. _Thank you for letting me love you_ , it’s the greatest blessing of my life to have you brighten up my life.”

 _There he goes again – always so good with his words._ Sighing dreamily as you melt into his touch, you tilt your head upwards to capture his lips once again, your lips moving along with his in a slow dance. Even as he gets lost in the sweet taste of your kiss, Doyoung makes sure to protect your injured hand, moving it gently to place it upon his shoulders.

Being able to love Doyoung was the best decision you had ever made in your life, but having Doyoung love you was the greatest blessing – for he gave you a love unlike any other – one that was always there to keep you warm and safe.


	9. Renjun - Ships that pass in the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: NCT Dream Renjun x fem reader  
> Genre: ghost!au, strangers!au (but it’s not horror – I promise)  
> Word count: 1.6k  
> Description: Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  
> This is often meant to refer to people who meet for a brief but intense moment, only to part, and never see one another again.  
> Author’s note: Inspired by a module that I took last semester on ghosts and spirits, I hope you enjoy the non-traditional take I took on the idea of ghosts!

Renjun might have left this world a little too soon for his liking but even in his passing, he does his best to continue being the boy that lights up the world. Being dead doesn’t mean he has to stop spreading kindness and positivity in this world.

He lingers around the school campus that he attended before the terrible accident that took away his life one winter night, looking out for students that might need help. He mostly does small little things that won’t draw the attention of anyone, unless you’re purposely looking out for it. Renjun has left countless notes of encouragement on the belongings of struggling students, something that all of them write off as an act of kindness from a stranger when they weren’t looking. Well, they’re technically not wrong... but they’re only half right. Renjun was no ordinary stranger – he was a ghost.

-

Wandering along the hallways in the evening when most students have already left for home, a lone, lit classroom naturally draws his attention. Peering in through the small window by the door, Renjun notices you bent over the small table, scribbling away furiously on your notes as you bunch your hair up with your other hand. You let out a small sigh of annoyance as you erase your math equation for the 10th time, your patience slowly ebbing out of you as the frustration mounts. Your eyes are burning and the stabbing pain at the right side of your brain _just won’t go away_. Pressing a hand to your head, you decide that _this is it_ for the night. You’ll deal with that one annoying question that you can’t get right when the sun rises tomorrow. The stabbing pain that has now intensified makes you bristle with anger, and you proceed to shove your stationary into your pencil case as you slam your math textbook shut, both you and Renjun jumping at the unexpectedly loud sound. You’re clearly stressed out, and even Renjun can see that. Renjun wonders what he can do to make you feel better and he catches sight of the acrylic charm of a cat that hangs from your bag, as well as your lock screen that shows a picture of the starry night sky. From this, Renjun gathers at least 2 things. One, you like cats and two, you like the night sky as well. Which is perfect for him honestly, because he’s able to make these 2 things happen.

Once you’ve decided on your route home, Renjun quickly passes through walls and classrooms as a shortcut to reach the school garden before you in search of the school’s resident black cat. He finds the adorable feline under her favourite bush, flicking her tail aimlessly with her eyes closed shut as she sleeps. Cooing at the cat, Renjun successfully catches the attention of the feline, whom now opens one eye lazily to regard Renjun. With the promise of food, she finally agrees to do Renjun’s bidding and walks right into your path to catch your attention. Renjun watches from the sideline as a huge smile stretches across your face, your phone quickly abandoned in favour of the cute feline now curled at your feet. From the side-lines, Renjun watches with a smile on his face as your smile now practically stretches from ear to ear as you play with the cat, especially loving it when she nudges her face into your palm, clearly wanting more affection and love from you. Renjun no longer had a beating heart nor could he feel physical warmth, but he was certain that if he could, his face would be heating up by now as his heartbeat speeds up. You mentally thank your lucky stars in your mind; you weren’t in the best mood, too troubled by not being able to get your math homework right so this furry therapy was exactly what you needed to make you feel better.

Standing just a few feet away from you (not that you can see him anyways), Renjun furrows his eyebrows as he taps his fingers against his chin: How does he get the perfect timing to have you look up at the night sky? Renjun looks left and right, pacing up and down before something rustling by the side of his eye catches his attention. Eyes darting over, he catches sight of the leaves rustling slightly as a light breeze sweeps through their gaps.

_That’s it._

Moving to stand in front of you, Renjun conjures up a gust of wind from behind you, momentarily causing the leaves to rustle violently as your clothes billow around you. The sudden blast of cool air catches you completely off guard and you watch as your hairband unravels from the force of the sudden gale, and travels towards the night sky. You jump on the balls of your feet to catch it before it drops to the ground, and you nearly forget how to land properly.

“Wow.”

Eyes trained on the violet night skies that lay above, that was all you were capable of vocalising. You find yourself transfixed on the currently unravelling scene, various emotions thrumming through your veins as your bones buzz with excitement. It’s an emotion that comes from deep within the crevices of your body; one that is incomprehensible to the human mind, but entirely understood by the physical body. It’s the kind of emotion that sets every neuron on fire, searing this image into your mind for eternity.

A million stars dot the entire sky, each shining brightly like the crystals that hang from chandeliers in mansions against the backdrop of a violet and blue-black sky. Every inch of the sky is covered by the stars, and you swear that you’re looking at this very moment, is the entire galaxy that has always stay hidden to the human eye. Never in your life have you ever lay eyes upon such a sight – you’ve only seen them in books or documentaries, when they discuss what the skies will look like without all the light pollution from humans. You always felt a little sad when they repeated that point, wondering endlessly about the time you will get a chance to see this magnificent sight, a dream that seemed even further away because you live in the city. But here you are in this moment, laying your eyes upon this sight you’ve only ever dared to dream of seeing. You’re so overwhelmed by this feeling of happiness that you even forget about the absurdity of the situation – that was honestly the furthest thing on your mind right now. The stars all vie for your attention, but you take your time to slowly admire them instead. With not a single cloud in the sky, you get an unobstructed view of the galaxy above you, and you take your time to let your eyes wander around the night sky, trying to soak in every detail of it. Renjun stands close by as you continue to gaze in amazement at the majestic sight above you, watching your eyes shine as they reflect the universe above you. With each soft exhale that you release, you feel the tension being expelled from your body. You honestly never thought that one day you’ll be able to see this view but it is happening right before your very own eyes, and you count it as an immense blessing to be able to witness this sight at least once in your entire lifetime. Who knows when you’ll get to see this again – if ever?

“Whoever it is, be it down here or up there, thank you. Thank you for allowing me to experience this wonder, and for making me happy.”

Renjun hears you loud and clear, and he beams at your heartfelt words. He knows that you’re not aware that this was all his doing – so you’re not really thanking him specifically – but he still smiles at the sweet thought, simply because it’s heart-warming to know that someone still remembers to give thanks for the little things in life that they’re grateful for. Slowly, the effects of his magic wear off and the stars dim till they were before, clouds now hanging in the skies again. Only now are you willing to let your eyes drop to the earth beneath you, a small smile continuing to grace your face as your ears lift in joy, working hard to calm your heart it comes down from it’s previous high. When you turn in his direction and stare for a prolonged period of time, Renjun freezes in his spot, worried that you might _actually_ be able to see him. He breathes a sigh of relief when you bend down to beckon the black cat beside him to you, realising that you only stared because his feline friend was right beside him. Renjun lingers for a few more moments, until you bid the cat goodbye with a scratch under her chin and he makes sure you’re on the bus safely before he turns to leave.

Like ships that pass in the night, what transpired between the two of you will never happen again. Just like how two ships will never pass one another again in the vast ocean, you and Renjun will never find one another again in this sea of people. You’ll remember this night forever; for an act of kindness from a stranger is always the most memorable – they genuinely give without expecting anything in return, wanting nothing more than to help make your day a little better. Like the ships that send encouragement through their shining lights over the cold, violent seas, these kind strangers choose to bring some hope into your life by sending you their best wishes through their actions, sincerely wishing you the best despite knowing nothing about your story.

Constants may always be better than a fleeting stranger, but these acts of kindness from a strangers are just as strong in the spirit of love and giving – strong enough to move sturdy mountains, make the winds howl and quell the violent seas.

Like the ships that pass in the night, you are never truly alone in the world.


	10. Ten - Sweet treat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: NCT / WayV / SuperM Ten x fem reader  
> Genre: police officer!au, assassin!au  
> Word count: 480  
> Description: You and Ten stood on the opposite sides of justice – one in the light, and one in the dark. You two should never meet but… plans took a different turn when Ten decided that he liked you more than he should. After all, you’re too sweet to resist.  
> Author’s note: Wrote this awhile back for my cousin and had intended to save it for later by expanding it into a full-length fic but I’ve got other plans now so… posting this as a short blurb instead! Enjoy 😊  
> Warning!: Mentions of knifes, blood / Ten might sound a little psychotic here?

He's got you cornered, and there's nowhere for you to run now. He should be scared of you, but he clearly isn't. Instead, Ten took his time teasing you, drinking in your form as his lips split into a Cheshire grin. He's always got a thing for uniforms, and you look _super hot_ in your police uniform, even if that wasn't supposed to be its function. Raking his eyes up and down your body, he succeeded in making you squirm. He loved it, loved the situation you're in. Completely disarmed by him a few moments ago, you're now completely at his mercy. Your entire back is pressed against the wall and if he stuck his face closer to yours, he can smell your lovely scent.

_Honey and cream._

You're a sweet treat just waiting to be devoured by him.

And so, he does.

Flicking the switchblade right in front of your face, he watched as your eyes grew big at the proximity of the dangerous weapon and Ten relished at your fear, a breathy laughter escaping from his lips. Using the blunt side of the blade, he used it to trace the outline of your face as he took his time observing your features. Your eyes closed in fear as your body trembled, but you willed yourself to stay composed, breathing out slowly to conceal your shaky breaths. Your fear doesn’t deter Ten but instead, he took his time observing your features. Your skin was a smooth porcelain with not a single scar to blemish the art piece, long lashes fanned out across your high cheekbones and your lips were now parted slightly, looking like the most luscious candy he’s ever seen. Your Cupid’s Bow resembled a perfect heart shape – how _cute._

“Relax sweetheart, I won't hurt you. Can't hurt you. Such a pretty face, it'll be a pity...”

He dragged the blade back under your chin, tilting your chine upwards to force your eyes onto him. Your eyes flew open in shock, eyes now staring right back into his chocolate ones. When he's got your attention, he traced the outline of your lips, his own tongue darting out to wet his lips.

“Your lips are so pretty... I wonder if they taste sweet...”

You say nothing in response, too frozen in fear. You were taking too long to answer, so Ten took things into his own hands.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to try it to find out.”

He slammed his lips onto yours with full force, roughly moulding them together. The back of your head repeatedly hit against the brick walls behind, but Ten couldn’t stop himself. You tasted too sweet for him to put any self-restraint on himself.

When you awoke on the cold tarmac floor later, the metallic taste from the blood on your lips was the only reminder that he's ever been there that night.


	11. Jaemin - Snap!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: NCT Jaemin x reader
> 
> Genre: photographer!au, strangers!au, friendship!au
> 
> Word count: 2.9k
> 
> Description: To snap a photo is to freeze a moment in time forever, but the memories and relationships forged during that moment last beyond that fragment of time.
> 
> Warning!: None

Photography had always been your little passion. Nothing that you took too seriously or forced yourself into doing – for pushing yourself too far might end up backfiring and extinguishing the joy you had for the hobby. You just picked up your camera whenever you felt like it. Lately, however, you have been meaning to improve on it. Staring at photos online with good angles, lighting and composition was not going to magically make yours look the same. As with every other art form, one needed to constantly practise to be better at it. Pen held between your lips as you twirled in your swivel chair, you brainstormed for places around your neighbourhood that would serve as a good photography spot. Your favourite hunts come to mind but you quickly shook those thoughts out with a scrunch on your face. You’ve taken enough photos of those places, there would be nothing new to see. When your swivel chair finally came to a stop, your eyes immediately caught onto the postcard hanging on your wall – a souvenir from one of your recent travels. It was a shot of a beautiful water fountain, crystal azure water simmering in the small pond beneath. You practically jumped from your seat when the thought came to you, you could try to take some photos at the newly opened park just a short 15-minute walk from your residence. The highlight was a gushing water fountain, which you knew would look perfect under the evening skies. Throwing on your clothes that hung by the back of your door, you left the house quickly before taking a brisk walk to the park.

Stepping past the magnificent iron-wrought gates, you didn’t have to follow the signs to reach the fountain, you simply followed the crowd. Being a budding photographer meant that your eyes were constantly searching for the next scene to capture, the next moment to preserve and last past time immemorial. Eyes wandering, you constantly stopped to snap photos – the rose bushes, the pine trees and the occasional jogger with their dogs on a run; if you were lucky enough to get a shot that was not blurry due to the movement. As you walked along the well-paved stone paths, the sound of footsteps and murmured conversations gradually gave way to the sound of splashing water and one particularly loud slap of the water against the ground snapped you out of your reverie. Just in time anyways. Snapping your head forward, you watched as the water sprouted high up into the air, the clear water momentarily becoming pink against the backdrop of the baby pink evening sky and cotton candy clouds. The sprouts of water seemed to float in the mid-air for a few moments, inching just _slightly_ higher into the air, almost like they’re trying to reach for the skies. Your eyes followed closely as the trail of water eventually came down, the final splash creating a spray of mist around the surrounding onlookers. The whole moment was magical and magnificent, and you knew instantly that – _this_ – was going to be your only subject for the rest of the evening. You really desired to get a good shot of this spectacular show and you were not leaving until you got it. The collective gasps of the spectators before you had you instinctively rising your camera, your fingers pressing down on the button rapidly as you heard the soft clicks of the shutter go off in succession. You beamed widely to yourself – surely you must have gotten a few good shots.

Wrong.

The more you pressed the next button, the deeper the frown on your face. There was something terrible about each photo that you took. Some pictures were blurred due to movement from the water and people, others looked overexposed or the composition just didn’t look right – the tops of the water sprouts were sometimes cut off. You let out a small huff of annoyance as you deleted each shot, your nostrils flaring as you pushed air aggressively through them. Unbeknownst to you, your little huffs of annoyance had caught the attention of someone standing not too far off from you. Setting his camera down, Jaemin turned towards the source of noise, pausing for a moment to look at you glare at your camera screen. The oncoming breeze ruffled your hair and clothes, causing you to push your hair behind your ears in a futile attempt to keep them out of your face. You were clearly struggling – and no, Jaemin was not referring to your hair. Thankfully, for you, it might be something that he could help with. Taking big steps towards you, Jaemin stood beside you before gently asking.

“Do you need help? You look like you could use some help with your camera.”

“Pardon?”

With the breeze whipping your hair into your face, you couldn’t see who was talking to you. Gathering your hair with your fingers, you pushed your hair back and finally, got a good look at the person standing beside you.

Well-defined eyebrows, wide doe eyes with a plush lower lip. But what left you dumbstruck wasn’t his good looks but rather, his bubblegum pink hair. It was the exact same shade as the current evening skies, and you nearly asked if he descended from the heavens. How else could someone possess such perfect hair that rivalled even the softest clouds? Jaemin did not seem to notice your ogling – or maybe he was just used to it. He quickly slung a reply back.

“I’m asking if you need help with your camera.”

You noted the black DSLR resting around his neck, and you quickly realised that perhaps he was someone that could teach you a tip or two.

“Oh! Yes, I do, actually. I can’t seem to get the shots right; everything just does not look good.”

“Let me take a look.”

You placed the device gently into his outstretched hands and Jaemin sifted through the deleted shots quickly, immediately identifying what was wrong with each picture.

“Am I a lost case?” you jokingly asked.

“No, you’re not. Just lacking some techniques but those are easy to fix. Here, let me show you. Let’s start with the basic camera settings.”

Jaemin then turned off your auto settings, and promptly showed you how to get the correct aperture, ISO, shutter speed and exposure settings – depending on your subject. You quickly learned that the higher the ISO value, the higher the sensitivity to light – and vice versa. All the terms Jaemin threw out was too much for your brain to absorb just by listening, so Jaemin waited patiently as you diligently noted down everything he said, occasionally looking at him for confirmation with your eyes. That was the cycle: he would teach you something, you’ll write it down before adjusting the settings yourself and snapping the shot. Jaemin would then inspect the shot later, and with each passing attempt, he nodded and smiled more. Your improvement was fast and visible, you were clearly a capable and fast learner.

Turning to Jaemin, you asked, “Is there anything else I could learn as a beginner?”

“Just one more, positioning.”

You tilted your head to the side, a sign for Jaemin to carry on explaining.

“It’s simple. We’re going to try out different postures to get different kinds of shots. If you stay in the same spot, your shots are going to be the same, right? So, move around and try out different compositions.”

Without another word, Jaemin took off for the fountain. For the next few minutes, you were chasing Jaemin around the structure, stumbling to catch up with him as he leaped high and low. One moment he was kneeling on the ground, and the next he was up on some empty bench, stretching his arm out to get an aerial shot of the fountain. Then before you even noticed, he had already woven into the crowd, leaving you to squeeze past the throng of people to get to him as you whispered apologies under your breath. After fighting through the crowd to reach him, Jaemin promptly dashed off again, leaving you with a grimace on your face as you took off after him again.

_My goodness, would that bubblegum pink boy slow down? He’s bounding around like a bunny; I can hardly keep up! Goodness, where does he get his energy from?_

After finally catching up with him, you bent over with your hands on your knees, patting your hand against your chest to slow down your panting. Jaemin remained unfazed, turning to you with a grin on his face.

“Now you try.”

“Let me… let me… catch my breath first. You run really fast.”

“Sure.”

Jaemin disregarded your comment, which left you staring at his back incredulously as he continued to snap photos of the nearby rose bushes.

“Ok, I’m ready. Let’s get those shots.”

“Great. Now lie on the floor.”

“WHAT?”

“I’m serious, lie on the floor. You can get some pretty good angles from the ground.”

From his spot on the ground, Jaemin closed his hand around your forearm before dragging you down to the ground beside him. Your jaw dropped in ridicule initially, but once you were in that position and felt so much smaller compared to the people walking past you with quizzical looks on their faces, you burst into laughter – and Jaemin followed suit. It probably didn’t look the best from the by-standers point of view, two people lying in the middle of the park and blocking the path but you were laughing too much to be bothered by that now. Dropping your head between your hands, you tried to suppress your giggles but it wasn’t working out so well, your giggles coming out as snorts instead.

“What you waiting for? Get some good shots now!”

Jaemin nudged your shoulders and you finally snapped out of it – but not without tears gathering at the corners of your eye.

“Yes sir, I’ll take the photos now. This is just too funny; I can’t help laughing. Two people lying in the middle of a path taking photos. I’m going so far just to take a nice photo.”

“Final tip as a photographer: you must be willing to sacrifice many things to get that good shot.”

“How extreme.”

There under the fading evening blush, you and Jaemin laid pressed shoulder to shoulder, both focused on taking the last few shots until Jaemin’s phone alarm went off. Immediately, he got up from the floor before fishing his phone out of his pocket. You followed suit, now standing face to face with him as he spoke first.

“I got to go now. My part time job.”

“Oh, please go! I didn’t realise how fast time has passed.”

“It’s no worry.”

“Thank you so much for teaching me today, I really did learn some useful tips from you.”

“No problem.”

Jaemin would loved to stay longer to talk to you but he really had to go now, before he was late for work. Bringing his hand up into a wave, you returned his parting gesture before you watched him jog out of the park and into the crowd. You tried following his bubblegum pink hair; that should have been easy to spot amidst the sea of natural blacks and browns. But soon, you had lost sight of that helpful stranger. You stayed to shoot some final shots before you left the park and took a leisurely stroll home. By the time you closed the door to your room, the view outside your room had faded from blush pink to inky black, the evening sun now replaced by the twinkling stars and luminous moon. It wasn’t until you reviewed the photos before you realised your mistake. You slapped your palm against your forehead as you groaned in frustration, the impact leaving a red print on your forehead.

“ARGH, I forgot to ask for his name! He’s helped me so much and yet I have no way to find him to properly thank him.”

You clearly remembered telling yourself that you would buy him a drink as a proper thanks but now… without a name or a contact number… there was no way that you’ll be able to contact him. All you had to remember him by was his face and a nickname that you chose for him yourself: Bubblegum pink boy.

\---

**[2 months later]**

Walking along the gallery of your local community centre, you stopped every few metres to observe yet another shot, before using your phone to take notes on it. What was good, and what was bad. According to Bubblegum pink boy (as with many teachers before him), learning by observing is also one great way to get better at your craft. Your local community centre had called for its residents to submit photos taken of the town in celebration of its 50th anniversary. You had taken the plunge, submitted your collections of photos and was pleasantly surprised to get an email back, saying that your photo had been chosen. You had just walked past the photo that you had taken of the fountain that evening, the image immediately bringing to mind memories of Bubblegum pink boy.

_I really wonder where he is now and how he’s doing… it’s such a small town, why do I not see him around?_

Turning the corner, you glanced at the next photo quickly – only to do a double take when you realised that…you…were the subject of the photo.

_What even?_

Even though your features were not distinct due to the strong lighting in the background, you recognised your side profile and the water fountain in the background. Then it dawned upon you: you had only visited the water fountain once – and that was the evening where you had met Bubblegum pink boy. There was no doubt about that – this photo could only be taken by him. Stepping closer, you inspected the small information card by the side of the picture.

**_Title: Passion_ **

**_Photographer: Na Jaemin_ **

“So… do you like it?” someone whispered beside you. Whipping your head to the side, you jumped back due to the close proximity of your faces, but a smile soon stretched across your lips when you recognised who it was.

“Oh! Bubblegum pink boy!”

The affectionate nickname, however, made the young male raise his eyebrows.

“I have a name, you know. Look here.” he said, pointing towards the small information card.

“My name is Na Jaemin, and if anything, my nickname should be Blueberry boy now. Look at my hair!”

Tilting his head forward, Jaemin pointed towards his freshly-dyed blue hair, the colour indeed looking like a lighter shade of blueberries. Jaemin looked back up and gave you a pointed look, only to be met with your beaming smile.

“Now that I know your name, I won’t be calling you by your nicknames anymore, Na Jaemin.”

“Good to formally know you, Y/N L/N.”

Now, your eyes blown wide at his statement.

“Wait, how do you know my name? I’ve never told you.”

“I walked past your photograph of the water fountain just now, and I took a look at the information card.”

“How were you so sure that was me though? It could have been anyone that day.”

“I know, because I remember inspecting that shot for you before I left.”

“Right… didn’t think you’d still remember it though.”

“Well, I do have good memory, unlike someone here.”

Jaemin pushed your forehead slightly with his index fingers as you swatted at his hands; he was clearly making fun of your frantic note taking that evening.

“Hey! It just shows that I’m a diligent student.”

“Sure~” Jaemin cooed in a sing-song voice, still teasing you with a friendly lint in his voice. You turned back to the photograph with a scoff, eyes now studying the picture intently.

“Thank you for capturing me so beautifully… when did you even take this shot?”

“I took it just before I left the park. It was the perfect moment with the evening light casting its glow on both the fountain and you. Oh, and I didn’t make you beautiful though, you did.”

“How so?”

“Passionate people engaging in their craft will always be a beautiful sight to see, hence the title.”

“You beat me to it; the title was going to be my next question.”

“Well, now you know.”

“I got another question though.”

“Shoot.”

“Would you be free after this? I would like to treat you to a drink – as a proper thanks for helping me that night.”

“I would not be free for drinks…”

Jaemin watched as your face fell but that didn’t last for long.

“But I would be free for lunch.”

“GEEZ!”

You slapped his arm for teasing you once again and Jaemin faked a howl of pain at the light tap as a scowl still decorated your face

“So Jaemin, any recommendations on where to eat?”

“Anywhere but the Dancing Hatter.”

“Why not? I love their milkshakes; they serve the best strawberry milkshakes in town.”

“Because I work there, and you’re welcome for the good strawberry milkshake, they’re likely made by yours truly.”

“Wait, you work there? How come I don’t see you around?”

“Two reasons: you either came in during my break time, or I was busy in the kitchen making drinks.”

“No way, I would have seen you at least ONCE.”

“Well then, maybe you just have bad eyesight. That could be a potential reason number 3.”

“Oh, would you stop roasting me!”

And just like that, both of you finished walking through the entire photography gallery, bickering and bantering with one another. But even then, if someone were to snap a photo with the two of you right there and then, they would have captured two young people just being very happy and content with each other’s company.


End file.
